Episode 8 -- Destinies Align
by ep8fanficguy
Summary: I know I'm a little late to the party, but I wanted to get this out before the EP9 trailer came out. It was a fan fic I wrote a few months back just for fun for my co-workers. It's a Star wars thriller with a twist.


**Thoughts**

I had a lot of fun writing this fanfic, and the excitement of you all here at work helped me finish it - otherwise i probably wouldn't have. Now, this is my first piece of creative writing, and it's filled with things that I would've liked to see in it. It's filled with deeper star wars lore that more casual fans wouldn't understand, so coje to me for any questions you may have. It's not perfect, there may be some plot holes and other things in it like that, but I think the story is solid. I haven't read it over because I wanted to get it out to you as soon as possible, but I think everything checks out. Let me know if you have any questions at all and enjoy. Oh! I'd give this a rating of R for some gruesome scenes, so. Here's some pictures of the cast you may not be familiar with and a link for how I think the sith ghosts sound.

** watch?v=A9q18VO05wM&t=74s**

**Star Wars Episode 8**

**Destinies Aligns**

**Fan Fiction**

**Written by Luke Owls**

**Part I - Shutters In The Force**

**Luke's realization**

Luke awakes with bulging, focused eyes. Set on an imaginary vision in his head, stunned beyond what he could have possibly imagined.

"Oh, no." He told himself. Guilt ran through his body.

Filled with dread, anger and sorrow he darted out of his hut, looked up into a clear night sky. The air was crisp, almost unnaturally so given what he feared occured. He felt a tremor in the force. A tragedy.

In a fit of rage and self-blame, he screamed out into the night sky "Kylo!" so far the echoes could be heard all across the island. Boulders fell from the tops of the small island mountain, the waters of the nearby sea began to shift faster and heavier. The care-takers, huddled in their huts, were bearing nervous looks. They knew how powerful Luke Skywalker was, they had noticed it over time as he spent his days looking for ancient force secrets left behind from the ancient Jedi. More potent ways to use the force, more advanced tactics and lethal means of combat so nights like this wouldn't come to pass...so he wouldn't have to endure the pain of blaming himself for another life lost.

Luke grabbed his Lightsaber, utility belt and an emergency pack and sped down the mountain.

"Luke" he heard from behind him as he took his first steps on level ground. He stopped slowly and turned.

"Yes, father?" He replied - looking at the Force Ghost of his father, Anakin Skywalker. Whom by now, he had regular contact with - a few times a year or so.

"Be patient, my son. You may remember in my anger, what I did to the Galaxy. The boy does not understand what he's done - or what he might become. Have patience and let the force guide you."

A deep breath and a lean on his walking stick, Luke gathered himself. No longer in anger, he sat down accepting and grieving for the loss of Han.

"He was my only real friend, Father. So many of us have died in the past. So many wars and so much loss. I just…" Looking up with a small tear in his eye, his father was gone.

Standing up in resolution, luke exclaimed to himself "The girl. Whoever she is, needs to be found.". Walking the rest of the way to the cliff side, Luke looked down into the ocean. Through the night sky and the glare of the moonlight, Luke could just make out the drowned X-wing at the bank of the cliff.

Looking down at a hand-sized panel screen, one used for reporting in the resistance (one he stole from Leia to keep tabs on her and the resistance's activities) he read a report of an unnamed girl successfully aiding in destroying Star Killer Base.

"Hmm. Seems familiar." He said to himself. Shifting his gaze back to the water, a reminiscent idea came to him.

"I guess I learned a trick or two from that old frog, Yoda." Chuckling to himself, then focusing, he reached a hand out through the force. The X-Wing began to shake, the water tremble, and soon after, the X-Wing began to lift out of the water. It's body was heavy and covered with moss and vine. Luke's eyes closed, feeling through the force, bringing the X wing fully out of the water and guiding it to the top of the cliff.

Finally bringing the X-Wing to the level surface he was on, he let go of the force gently and allowed the X-Wing to plant softly on the grass and drain, much like his master had before him.

Smiling, Luke said "Some tricks never get old, Master Yoda" imagining Yoda's checkered laugh.

He then sat down criss crossed on the soft grass. "Patience" he told himself. Reaching out with the force once again, he imagined making his first lightsaber. "Just like your saber" he thought. As the inner and outer mechanisms of the X-wing began moving independently, seemingly repairing itself, Luke was lost in the serenity of the force.

**Desire of Power**

"Where is Kylo Ren, general Hux?" Barked the low, deeply angry voice of Supreme Leader Snoke.

"You wish to replace him so badly as my right hand but yet you can not handle the simple task of maintaining knowledge of his whereabouts! Do you understand the threat Kylo poses if he has defected? Corrupted by weak minded fools like his father?!" as Lightning flickered from Snokes hand ever so gracefully but uncontrollably.

General Hux, taking a short and concentrated breath which seemed to make him a little light-headed replied "It has only been a day since Star Killers...incident, Supreme Leader; but I assure you I am sleeplessly on the hunt. Is it possible he could have perished in the explosion?"

"Mmm…no. I still sense him." Snoke took a pause. "I suppose Kylo is a crafty one. Bratty and recalcitrant like his father, but crafty. I can not trust you to search for him on your own, Hux. I will put you in the charge of those who know him will instruct the Knights to find him, immediately. They will remain under your employ until Ren is brought to me for some...reconditioning."

"Yes, supreme Leader, but I do have one more report to make if you'll allow the time, Supreme Leader". Snoke's eye raised slightly. Kylo, he has murdered his Father, Han Solo."

Hearing this news, Snoke seemed to relax his shoulders a little bit. Standing up revealing his almost unnatural height, gliding over to look at his Oculus.

"I wonder… if he had done such an act, why do I sense his abilities lacking? Perhaps he has too much of his father in him after all." Right at that moment, Snoke felt a presence that he hadn't in a very long time shifting his focus.

"Skywalker. I sense he's...ambitious... dutiful...in pain… and on the move. Interesting"

Knowing he doesn't want a head-to-head battle with Luke Skywalker at this moment, he begins to make preparations to keep eyes on Luke's presence in the Galaxy.

"What was that, supreme Leader?"

"Hux, get the Knights and make the necessary arrangements for Kylo's return. Do not fail me this time, Hux. Or it will be you facing the Knights wrath. I must make preparations of my own."

With that, Hux turned, smiled a devious smile and walked right out of Snoke's throne room. He, too, was making plans of his own...

**The Obsessed**

Inside of a dark room lined with pipes, mold and rusty tools sat Seven stern faced individuals - the Knights of Ren.

"Where do you think he is?" a slimy, high pitched voice asked to break the silence of the room. The knights of Ren were nameless. It was the hierarchy of the Knights of above them all, an order Kylo made them follow, in which each one is constantly pulling every underhanded trick short of murder to climb through the ranks in kylo's eyes.

.

The atmosphere of the room weighed heavier to the question.

"We're not supposed to speak of The Master" Stepping closer, "You know just as well as I do that HE DOESN'T LIKE IT!" Gritting his teeth and pointing to a scar on his face he received from Kylo years earlier for a similar mistake.

"Our duty is to The Master." a calm and authoritative voice exclaimed. "It does not matter what he approves or disapproves within us. Remain Silent." Two sat down, ashamed but resentfully.

Suddenly a door opened. "I have a job for you, brutes. Find and bring back Kylo Ren, by Order of Supreme Leader Snoke." The faces of the Knights suddenly grew to shock. A confident Hux, standing and smiling. "You will report directly to me, also by Order of the Supreme Leader. I have a ship awaiting your departure immediately. It is uncertain if he wished to kill Ren or not."

There was silence. Their faces went from shock to despair. Knowing Snoke, it was likely he'd kill Kylo for seemingly defecting. A heavy set Knight who carries a hammer with one end spiked, slowly walks over to Hux. The other six's eyes glanced over to one another, One putting his hand on his spear in case things got ugly. "You expect us to kill The Master? How dare you make such an order, Hux."

"YOU," Dare defy your TRUE Master, the Supreme Leader? How would you fare if I relayed this DISLOYALTY to the Supreme Leader?" Looking Three dead in the eyes, without blinking or fidgeting "The ship. Now."

The seven men, reluctantly, left the room to bring back Kylo. Possibly to his death, they believed.

"Brutes as they are, they would crush you in a second, Hux. You're lucky I was around." Said a hardened woman, creeping from the shadows wearing a stealth looking compression suit and low profile tactical face guard - the undersuit to her armor.

"Phasma, I should have known you were hiding in here like the spider you are."

"Once the report came out that Kylo was missing, I thought that the Knights might know where he was, or would be legitimate threats to our plan if they didn't. They're wallowing in sorrow, of course."

"Ah, yes. I assume your asset is in place, then?"

"Indeed, General Hux. Posing as a lost, hopeful young woman. Alias-Jayen."

"Good. Keep me updated and I'll work on my half."

Phasma nodded in agreement and without a word or second look, left the room.

**Kylo Alone**

In the dead of space floated Kylo ren's command shuttle. Kylo, laying down in a medical bed, being attended to by droids for his injuries was under sedation. The droids main objective, when not having direct orders from Kylo Ren himself were to monitor him and keep him alive. They barely managed to escape the explosion after having picked him up, unconscious after his altercation with Rey.

Most of the ships capabilities were incapacitated. The locator beacons and hyper space capabilities were dismantled. The ship was running low on air and was unable to contact the first order.

Kylo was alone.

Just then, the ship let out a small tremor. A few seconds, then it stopped. Kylo flinched in his sedation.

"Odd." Said KY-001, Kylo's personal medical droid, before returning to patching up Kylo's stitches. As the last stitch was finished, the droid left into the other compartment of the ship.

Kylo was laying there, helpless, but in his mind, he was very alert.

Laying still in his sleep, kylo heard a voice.

"Ren." Still asleep, his heart seemed to skip a beat.

The high, confident, sinister voice of Darth Sidious spoke again. "Ren... awaken." Kylo, under sedation still, seemed to be paying attention.

"You will go to Korriban, the homeworld of the Sith. There you will find a cave. You will finish your training, you will suffer, and you will rule."

Kylo, overcoming his medication, opened his eyes. Realization quickly coming to him.

"001. How long have I been on this ship?"

"Precisely 1 ½ days, Master Ren. The ship is operating at 35% efficiency."

Panic filled Kylo. Snoke surely thought he was dead or fled. For once, he was filled with crippling fear.

What would snoke do when he showed back up? Would he be killed? Cared for or tortured?

However he felt in the moment, the force vision of Vader's voice was enough to make his decision for him. "001, plot a course for the closest planet. From there, we will steal a ship and set a course to Korriban - we have one stop to make first.

With a swift swing of his lightsaber, a pilot laid dead in the cockpit of his new ship. KY-001 plotted the points, and the two beamed out of sight.

**High Hopes and Fast Disappointments**

*sssshhhheeeewwwwwbooooommmm* A heavy, low explosion sound filled the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon - rey and Chewie just came out of Hyper Space. As the approached Actoo, Rey glanced in amazement at the Green an Blue planet.

"It's… absolutely amazing Chewie!" Still not used to seeing so much green in the galaxy, her eyes filled with excited happiness. She was on her way to find the infamous Luke Skywalker, her last hope to any link to her past, or to define her future. Her heart was pumping, she could hardly wait until they landed.

As soon as they did, Rey took a deep breath. "Don't ruin this, Rey" she told herself. Coming from a planet filled with no one she could trust, and often not even getting a first chance at anything, she didn't want to ruin what she thought may be her _only _chance at a life worth living.

She took her staff, the mysterious Lightsaber in her possession, and followed Chewie. Looking up at a steep hill-top, Chewie lowly groaned "Aaarg" and pointed. He knew where Luke was all along. Him and Han being the only one who ever knew. They began to climb.

Once they reached the top, with Rey's emotions getting more insecure and more fluttery, she walked up to what she believed was Luke's hut. Ignoring the care-takers and the rubble they were cleaning up after Luke's outburst, she got cold feet.

Placing a small finger tip on the door, she felt a small rush of tingles move throughout her body. This was the force working within her. She knew this place had significance, maybe it was it? She thought.

With little patience, Chewie let out a loud groan. "AAAARGH" and kicked the door down.

No one was home.

Rey looked in confused curiosity. As she looked around the hut, she found so many trinkets and gadgets. Passing by each of them one by one, taking her time to take in as many details as she could while not spending too much time on one, but one in particular caught her eye. A picture of a man and a woman. It looked like a wedding. Could this be Luke? Who is he with? They both had lightsabers, this had to be luke! But was this his wedding? Who is the red-headed woman?

"Where is he?" Rey asked Chewie. With a shoulder shrug, Chewie grunted.

"Maybe we need to check the rest of the island. Let's go." With quick determination, she lead chewie out of the hut and down the hill.

"It's not that I _think _he left, but I can't help but think it! What if he knew we were coming? What if he doesn't want to meet me or train me? I should've known, a girl from Jakku couldn't hope to be a student to someone like _him._"

Chewie's eyes rolled and he grunted a mocking grunt. "Dramatic?! I am not being Dramatic, Chewie! This is a serious problem. We'll wait, that's all. Maybe make friends with the neighbors." Rey looked down, the care-takers were all yelling at each other about cleaning up Luke's mess. One hitting another with a small rock which seemed and babbling even louder in an undefinable language.

"We'll try, at least."

**The Legend**

Sirens cried throughout the night sky in a First Order Outpost while stormtroopers jogged in perfect uniformity toward an unidentified hostile that just entered the premises from out of thin air.

The storm troopers were converging on the location of a hooded figure. Speedly, hoards of storm troopers surrounded the figure.

"Stop! We have you surrounded!"

The figure said nothing. Looking up from his hood - allowing the soldiers to see who was under it.

With anger in his eyes mixed with perfect confidence, it was none other than Luke Skywalker.

Having been briefed on Luke and his dangers, the commanding Stormtroopers eyes widened and he gave out a deafening order.

"Fi-", but right before he could finish the order, the entire army of over 100 troopers were flattened by a strong force push that seemed to come from all directions. Luke, making the first move and engaging in battle, Jumped what seemed to be 35 feet in the air and ignited his dark green lightsaber.

The troopers stood up - some more injured than others, looked around hastily. Luke was nowhere to be seen. Little did they know he was descending from his jump.

Crashing down on one trooper and plunging his lightsaber in the chest, Luke was on one knee. It took a second for the troopers to realize what happened. Luke was surrounded by waves of troopers, all in confusion but armed nonetheless. A the troopers noticed that Luke was right next to them, they raise their blasters to fire, but it was too late.

Decapitating four troopers at once with a swift swing of his saber, Luke jumps again. Mid jump, he reaches out with the force like a hook and pulls a trooper to him, slamming the trooper into a few more - incapacitating them.

With a few troopers already dead, the others freeze as they have their blasters trained on Luke. hesitating, Luke uses force speed to mow through the barrages of troopers in his way.

Luke looked nothing like a human. From the outside looking in, it seemed to be just a light source moving so fast and killing anything that came into contact with it. Blocking blaster fire while simultaneously cutting down every unsuspecting and confused trooper in his path, Luke was moving with intense ferocity.

Suddenly, the troopers started to retreat, or so he thought. Luke looked around, he needed a few to interrogate. Right as he was about to pull a few using the force, he heard a loud BOOM come from above him. A star destroyer hovering high in the atmosphere came out of hyperspace, wasting no time to fire upon Luke.

"_That's why the troopers were fleeing, they were gaining distance"_, he thought. Four loud BOOMS followed, the star destroyer was sending its most powerful blasts barreling down at Luke.

Luke was surprised, to be sure, but also battle-hardened. Thinking quickly, he sheathed his lightsaber held two hands in the air like an arrow and broke his hands apart, splitting the first blast from the destroyer. Half of the blast went straight for the troopers on his right side, the other straight to his left, killing most of them instantly. He then sent his hands into the air once again, this time in a cup fashion. The blaster bolts made a direct hit! Three of them almost all at once had dirt and debris exploded all around Luke.

There was silence. The only sounds around were slight groans from soldiers that were hit by the friendly fire.

"Shall I send down more fire, Admiral?" asked a young Corporal.

Everything seemed a bit more quiet now, dust began to fade and no shots were being fired. "No, we can't risk killing any more of our own men again. Plus, the last three were a direct hit. Alert the Supreme leader, we've just killed Luke Skywalker."

Just then the destroyer jolted a bit unnaturally. Forcing some of the crew to stagger.

"Status!"

"All systems operational Admiral!"

"Then what the hell is going on?!"

The entire ship began to tilt slightly down and to the left, as if some huge force was pulling it.

The smoke cleared from Luke's position, and there he was- Uninjured, unimpressed, annoyed and having a strong desire to get the information he needed, Luke skywalker, both hands outstretched in a semi clenched fashion, was holding on to the destroyer with the force - one palm facing up and one palm facing down.

"Get us level and fire again, Corporal!"

"I can't, sir!"

With an angry look of determination to end this, veins protruding from his forearms and his body tensed... luke closed both of his hands. With an ear-splitting explosion - metal clinching against metal, plasma and neuro-energy systems cracking open, the engines on the back of the destroyer were completely crushed.

Sirens going off inside of the Destroyer while the occupants panicked.

"Abandon ship! The gravity will pull us in!"

Not hearing any of the voices back on the ground, Luke skywalker watched as the destroyer slowly and without power, began to submit to the gravitational pull of the planet. He looked around for any survivors - he managed to find one.

Walking over to the trooper laying on the ground clutching to his bleeding ribs and missing a hand, a young male with fear in his eyes watched as luke walked over. Almost gliding on the ground, the trooper put a hand out to Luke not to hurt him.

"Please...p-p-please don't kill me. I-I…"

"Ssshh… I need you to tell me a few things Trooper. Where is the girl?"

"G-g-girl, what girl? I don't kn…" The trooper let out a painful wail. Luke put slight pressure on his injured ribs, what he assumed was broken.

"I don't have times for games trooper! Tell me where the girl is! Now! Don't make me kill you."

"Please, I don't know what girl you're t-talking about! Please sir, don't kill me…I'm just a low level trooper trying to do my part to protect the galaxy" Tears began to well up in his eyes.

"Your part? YOUR PART?!" This seemed to upset Luke very much. The troopers eyes widened, he knew what was coming. He knew he was about to die.

Luke put his hand over the troopers eyes faster than the trooper could comprehend, and lost consciousness. Of course Luke didn't kill the trooper, though in his mind, he already had. It seemed no matter how many battles Luke had been in, no matter how much trauma he'd endure or how battle-hardened he'd become two things were certain. He'd never truly lose his value for the sanctity of life, nor would he ever give up on his mission. Two things at moments like this he wished he could do. He simply put the trooper to sleep.

Just then, two more squads of Troopers came rushing toward Luke. He'd almost forgotten where he was. They were about 200 yards down when he heard another loud BOOM. A ship just came out of hyperspace, this time, firing on the troopers. It wasted no time getting low enough for a young man to poke his head out of the ships ramp.

"Heard you need a ride - Leia's orders!"

Luke grabbed the injured trooper and force jumped up into the ramp. Walked in and the ship made it to hyperspace once again, only being around the surface for ten seconds.

Once he got on the ship, he was greeted by the dropped jaws of five crewmembers, and one cocky but nostalgic looking one. No one was speaking until Luke broke the silence.

"Who are you? The resistance?"

"Luke Skywalker. It's an honor to see you again, but if I can ask, sir, Why'd you bring that slime into my ship?" Stated a young, arrogant pilot by the name of Poe Dameron.

Luke had the unconscious trooper hanging on his shoulder.

"Information for you. Plus, he has good in his heart, and every life has meaning. None of it should be thrown away. You should do well to abide by that philosophy."

Poe swallowed. Looking embarrassed and feeling foolish. The authority of Luke Skywalker was one not taken lightly.

"Now, you can answer my question."

"Yes, we're the resistance, Leia said she thought you might be in trouble, need a lift. Seems she's been keeping an eye on you like you have her." Luke slightly smiled at this.

"We are siblings, after all, but how did she know to find me?"

"The necklace you wear. When she gave it to you, she planted a chip in it, and you have her panel screen. You didn't think she'd leave that unprotected, did you? You stole her panel screen, she spies on you."

Luke touched the Kyber crystal hanging from his neckline - something he never took off. A memory of his wife, Mara. It was her crystal she used in her lightsaber. He felt a shortness of breath, then refocused.

"What's your name? Wait, did you say again?"

"Poe. Commander Poe dameron. Yes sir, We actually met once when I was a kid."

"Old age gets everyone, I suppose. You seem sharp, Commander. If you could please take this trooper to the medical compartment and let him heal. I have a feeling he'll prove useful. And be nice!"

One of the crewmembers volunteered.

"Why didn't Leia come with you?"

"Our base was attacked. She thought it best to split up and meet at a secure rendezvous. The first order didn't know who to follow, we all got away."

"Very well, Commander."

"I have orders to take you back to her. Respectfully, of course."

"I fear I've wasted your time, Commander. As well as my own. I need to head back to Actoo. I have a few things to do there."

"I would respectfully disagree, sir. My orders are to-"

With a wave of his hand Luke said "You will let me take an X-Wing off this ship"

"I-I will let you take an X Wing off the ship"

"And you will be kind to your prisoner"

"I will be kind to the prisoner."

With that, Poe unlocked the bay doors, and off went Luke Skywalker back to Actoo.

"Never too old to break a few rules" he thought to himself.

As Luke shoots off into hyperspace, a young rebel fighter by the name of Jayen watches through a portal window.

**Snoke**

Snoke, levitating in his meditation room feels what has happened. A very large, high ceilinged, dark room, filled with artifacts, plants and relics from force users and force nexus' from all around the galaxy.

He feels Luke's sorrow deepening, his anger increasing. Snoke did not need to read the report on the event. He feels it from the force, like the vibrations of sound might play on a tape player. He groans to himself, eyes still closed. Luke is the only person he'd ever feared - and him the only one who might be able to kill Luke. This was a rather brutal tactic for Luke, he was obviously in pain. _"Revenge is not the Jedi way, Skywalker."_

**Loyalty**

"He...he brought a trooper on board, General Hux" exclaimed Jayen on a radio to the First Order, the spy for the first order.

"Why would he do such a thing? Interrogation? Torture?"

"I think he just wanted to keep him alive, sir"

"Hmm..sentiment is a weakness, bred from a need to be a part of something. Pathetic. Very well, Jayen, keep your cover and wait for further instruction. It may be awhile before we can find our perfect opportunity."

"Yes, sir."

Hux took out a small device with one simple button on it. He pressed it twice, paused and pressed it again. A few moments later, phasma radio'd in. Hux gave her the full details on what Jayen told him.

"Actoo? Are you sure she said actoo?"

"I'm certain of it, Phasma. He must have let it slip. I'll have the Knights go after him after they'd found our little runaway. We need some time to attack, a plan is needed. Skywalker is too powerful to go about with just Ren's knights, and we can not have him dead before we kill Snoke, we may _need _Skywalker to kill Snoke if we can't have our spy get to him. We **must** keep this information from snoke, I'll keep you updated on any events."

They both turned their radio's off and went about their business.

"A holoimage came on the dash of the Knights ship.

"Have you located ren yet?"

"No, General, but we feel we are close."

"Keep me updated. After you find him, Luke Skywalker was located on Actoo. You will go there after you have given Ren back to Snoke and eliminate him. We will have a more detailed plan later."

The holoimage flickered off, and in the very back of the ship in shadow sat none other than Kylo Ren.

"What would you like us to do, Master Ren?"

"Keep searching. Never find me. I'll be back, I have a few places to go. No matter how long I am, just keep looking"

Kylo stood up and went through a small port tunnel that connects the two ships. He ignited his ships hyperspace system and set off for Korriban.

**The Masters of Old**

Upon landing on Korriban, Kylo was greeted by a large, decaying temple lined with Sith statues. A sand storm was beginning, and he knew he had to get under cover quickly if he were to survive.

Following hi instincts, he walked into the temple. In awe, he stood at the pride and dignity the Sith ince had shown. Everything with in the temple, perfectly symmetrical, organized, prized. Following his instincts, he went deeper. For what felt like ten minutes down a dark and desolate hallway, he began to feel something following him.

"There's nothing here, could it be snoke? Skywalker?"

He took a few more steps - sweat running down the back of his neck. He could feel it, it was right there! It was about to touch him! He ignited his saber and swung ferociously in a circle only to find...nothing. He was disgusted with himself. "How disappointed Grandfather would be."

He kept walking until he found a small door, barely as tall and as wide as he was with strange symbols above it. He had to be in the right place. He walked inside the door, it slowly got smaller and thinner. He had to crouch, then crawl, and then pull himself to at last a giant room filled with Sith teachings. Holocrons, weapons, books and small spheres with tiny openings all sitting in a row in the middle of the floor, and a rock. An ordinary looking, small rock. He felt uneasy about this rock, he wasn't sure why.

Kylo felt peace rise in him, then fear...fear deeper than he ever felt. "And anger" he thought, "stronger than I've ever had". Something, that same something from before was watching him. He knew it was there, like an itch he couldn't scratch. He looked around.

"Why am I here?" He exclaimed.

"You are no Sith" cried a voice - a woman's voice. Ghostly, sharp and fading in and out. Like a witch was speaking to him from beyond the grave.

"You are the imposter" another voice said, a light, but deeper voice.

"Who are you? Why can't I see you?" Kylo was nervous, but steadfast.

"We are Sith. The truuuuue Sith, here to teach a new line to carry on our legacy. LEGACY!"

"How are you here? This isn't possible!" Exclaimed Kylo, overcome with fear and emotion - hasting to deny the truth. For once in his life, he was truly afraid.

"You tremble, young skywalker." a new voice stated. This one controlled, perfected, eloquent. There was obviously more than one...whatever these things were here.

"Our doooooooor was opened by Darth Sidious, now we are able to speak to students who hold a truuuuuue potential for the daaaaark side. We are here because of Lord sidious, he opened the door with his alchemy, the rock, young rennnn…"

Kylo looked at the rock, _ "that's why I felt uneasy. It is the catalyst that holds them here…"_

"He's too weak" - a familiar voice to Kylo came out. "Far too weak to teach, we must harden him. He still has innocence in his eyes".

Too weak to teach? Kylo thought. Didn't he kill his father? Didn't he strike fear into everyone he came across?

"Teach me" Kylo said. The idea of having tutelage from the ancient sith was a dream come true. Now he could kill Snoke, Skywalker, even! Take over the galaxy and bend the very force to his will.

"Not so fast. I sense great torment in you. You are conflicted." Kylo thought he felt fingers run up his spine.

"We will break the conflict…if you survive"

"We?"

"We knew the heir of vader would come. We have seen it. The dark side is the path to power, but first lesson, first teachings. Paaaaain." the demonic voice faded out of earshot. "You don't know my pain" kylo replied. Laughter of a hundred sith ghosts filled the cave, mocking him. Out of nowhere, kylo felt his head push back and he fell to the ground. Watching the ceiling of the cave spin,he heard the voice again.

As the laughter continued, the most normal sounding voice, still haunting and devilish but relatable, came creeping from the cracks in the laughter and said "Tell me, young Solo, what is your greatest fear? So I may know what you must face. What is your greatest pain, so I know how best to torture you. What is your greatest goal? So I may know what to keep from you. Tell me, young one… how best I can kill you."

Still spinning, barely comprehending the words, Kylo succumb to his need to rest.

He woke in a world which he immediately knew was not familiar but all too familiar at the same time - a world of nothingness, a world of regret, a world of his own creation.

**The End of The Beginning**

A light, consistent beep of a machine is heard in the faint distance. Muttering of multiple people are heard fading in and out. "We can't wake him up yet, you have to let him wake up on his own, Poe!" "I'm not saying SHAKE the guy awake I'm just…."

His eyes flickering, regaining consciousness, an injured and barely perceptive Finn looks upon the smiling faces of Poe Dameron, Leia Organa and a few droids.

"All vitals reading normal" Said a droid.

"Thank you, dismissed" as the droid left the room. With a smile, Leia looks upon Finn "Hey, hero. How do you feel?"

"A little sliced in half, but okay. Where are we? Where is Rey?"

"Rey is safe, don't you worry about her. She's off to bigger and hopefully better things for now. She'll be back."

"Why won't you tell me where she is?"

Leia nodding a little to her right, her head pointing towards the unconscious storm trooper top her left. Finn jolted, now fully awake.

"What's that thing doing here?!"

"Calm down Finn, Luke brought him. Said he had a good feeling about him or something" Poe said unimpressed.

The name Luke struck Finn in a way he didn't expect. "Well, if he said it was okay, just keep an eye on him, okay?" Finn leaned in his medical bed a little to get a better look at this trooper. His eyes widened…"I know him."

Poe and Leia looked at each other, surprised. "The First order is a huge place, and out of everyone you could have brought back, you brought him."

"Who is he?" asked Poe

"He was in my unit - I only saw his face a few times, but...he's kind of a washout. Never really fit in."

"I think the word you're looking for is annoying"

"But still dangerous" snapped Finn. "Please just keep him here, okay?"

"Come on Finn, you should be able to walk. We're reaching our rendezvous now"

Finn stood up and noticed the subtle blue glow of a beautiful planet of Takodana, the home of Maz .

"Don't you think the First Order would find us here pretty easily?" said Poe "I'm still weary of this whole place."

"Oh, after last time, the First Order bugged out. They're all off looking for this and that, who has time to think about them? We have a resistance to rebuild, and no better place to rebuild than an old battleground!" Said Leia, a certain confidence in her voice.

**A Spy In Their Midst**

As ships were entering the rendezvous point and everyone was getting unloaded, sharing embraces and laughs, one young rebel wasn't participating in the camaraderie. Jayen, the young spy for the first order slips around one of the compound buildings to the living quarters. Looking around, she quickly realizes who is planning on staying where. The Resistance leaders will stay in a smaller looking building, all with individual rooms, while the remainder will stay in squad bay type rooms, with multiple cotts in large rooms.

With a bag of covert listening devices and cameras, she makes her way to the leadership quarters while everyone is distracted unloading everything, getting ready to place the listening devices in the quarters. Looking back, watching the unorganized and free thinking resistance work in such an undisciplined manner, she thought to herself "disgusting" and slipped into a small tunnel that went under the quarters. The tunnel was used as emergency escape routes for each room for the leadership to meet up with the rest of the squad bays.

Crawling under the quarters, she poked her head up from a loose floorboard to see if there was anyone around. An extremely confident and arrogant person, she had a quick witted sense of humor, usually at the expense of others and thought this would be a comical image if the job wasn't so risky. She didn't have time to laugh. She crept from out of the tunnels hole and looked around, placing a listening device on one side of the room and a camera on the other, facing down onto the working desk that she thought may have maps and plans later on. Moving into the hallway, she did the same in all four rooms.. Once the last room was done, she climbed into the escape hole that was inside of each room, and made her way back to the rest of the party. Climbing out of the original tunnel hole, she made a right hand turn not expecting anyone to be so far from the landing area, she was surprised when she bumped right into someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Jayen said, picking up an even younger resistance fighter, needing to keep her cover she put a friendly face on.

"It's okay, I just wanted to get a look around. This place has a lot of history. Hi, I'm D'oal"

"Jayen. I was doing the same thing. It is nice to get out and take a breath once in a while"

D'oal got his first look at Jayen, her bright green eyes captivated him. He stood still for a while, staring at her.

"_Great"_ Jayen thought._ "Another one of these people"_.

"Let's go back to the party, we'll have more time to look around later. Maybe we can go together?" said Jayen, looking forward to building a good reputation and network of people she can get information from.

"Sure!" With that, the two went back to the party to get further instructions.

Jayen was reluctant to go to the party and be around all of the people she deemed lesser than her or anyone in the First Order - undisciplined, unorganized and dirty Rebels. As her and D'oal walked through the hustling and bustling of Rebels, there was a signal to report in to the main hanger. General Leia was about to address the entire outpost. "_A prime opportunity to report what she says back to Hux" _she thought, as her and D'oal went to the hanger with the crowd.

General Leia walked up the steps to a platform that was meant to hold X-Wings - slowly, as she stepped, her cane tapping in between each step, the Resistance listened intently.

"Hello, my name us General Leia. Some of you know me, some of you don't, but you'll get to know me. Here, we will be centralized for the time being. We have suffered a devastating blow from the First Order, and we need to regroup, recruit and retrain everyone to be able to hold our legacy, and that is the most important part - legacy. What we leave our children, our children's children and the rest of the Galaxy. What we do now stamps into history who we are. I know many of you are frightened, happy to see old comrades alive; saddened to see others missing from this place, but I look out and I see no fear. I look out and I see strong and capable beings brought together for one singular purpose: To bring a lasting legacy of peace and hope to a crushed galaxy. Hope is not dead, as long as we breathe and as long as we fight, hope is not dead for this Galaxy - it lives in you!"

The crowd cheered, they were beyond happy to have their general back and showing no sign of weakness. Jayen looked over to D'oal, there was a small tear running down his cheek - she was clapping along with him, but rolling her eyes.

**Death is Patient**

"_She seems to be enjoying herself" _Phasma thought as she looked through her Electrobinoculars right at the face of Jayen from a high hilltop far from view. Phasma was stalking Jayen the entire time as she was fulfilling her mission. As a relatively new covert operative, Phasma had a habit of watching over the missions of the new ones - but she was impressed at Jayen's ability to adapt and improvise. Her attention to detail and instant obedience to orders made her a very lucrative asset. Phasma looked closer, saw Jayen clapping and roll her eyes. A slight smile showed on Phasma's face - _"atta girl". _She reached for a small device used to connect with Jayen from time to time. Two small beeps rang in Jayens ears - "report in" is what they meant. Phasma knew Jayen would have to find a secluded place to report in, and that she would have to do it now. Without Hesitation, Phasma saw Jayen move away from the crowd. As she Followed her (disguised as a Resistance fighter) she noticed she was choosing somewhere not too out of sight, but enough to get in a 60 second report. _"No reason to draw attention to yourself going too far out of your way - your silhouette would surely peak a few glances. Good move. Impressive" _Phasma thought. Jayen chose a small building, no doubt with a restroom and lock. As Jayen was about to enter the room, Phasma came right around the corner, surprising Jayen. "It's good to see you, Jayen." "Captain, I didn't.." "I know, girl. Follow me" They both went into the small building, locked it and Jayen gave the short and tight report. "About 200 Resistance fighters - one I have a name for so far, but is low ranking. All devices in place, no witnesses. Morale is higher since General Leia gave a speech. As my earlier report - FN-2187 is awake now, conscious and coherent."

"That is some news, no doubt. You have done well, Jayen. From now on, there will be no more check ups or requests for reports. You are expected to take the initiative on your own to give me the information on the critical weak points of the Resistance, and when the time's right to eliminate Snoke if we deem is necessary. I'll be working alongside with you from a distance, doing my own operations against the Resistance to put you in the perfect position. We need to draw the attention of Snoke to pull him out into a position we can eliminate him. Remember, you are going to be a hero of the resistance, and the intelligence you gather on everything here will create a vacuum in which the Resistance will not be able to recover. After Snoke is dead, the resistance is immediately after. Is that clear?" "Yes, Captain." "Good. You may be here for a long while, don't become one of them, Jayen. It may be years before we make our move. You know the price of failure, Jayen. I'll be waiting". With that Phasma walked out of the room. Jayen waited about a thirty seconds, and walked out after. She figured she'd see Phasma walking away in the distance, but saw nothing. Jayen's It was a keen show of her abilities.

**Promises of Power **

"The search for Kylo has turned up no leads, Supreme Leader. The Knights are tirelessly searching".

Hux felt like the room was beginning to tremble as he told the news to Snoke, but he knew it wasn't. Even in the face of the most feared being in the Galaxy, he couldn't help but smile internally - he knew Snoke needed a right hand, he knew at this point, even if Kylo were to return, he would no longer be Snokes pupil, just the tool.

"I can not sense him in the force, yet I sense betrayal. Hmmm, yes...betrayal amongst my ranks…"

Snoke looked to his Advisor and Navigator, Advisor Ko Tor and motioned him to leave. The mute species came from the Unknown Regions, and speak through the force.

"Is there something you wish to tell me, General Hux? I sense you are keeping something from me..." Snokes eyes pierced through Hux's soul.

"I instructed the Knights...that..that if they failed, death would be the...the punishment, Supreme Leader. I was not sure if that was that order was in agreement with you…"

"So, you spoke FOR me, General Hux? You believed I wouldn't be in need of warriors that were of the caliber of the Knights, did you? You gave an order behind my back that you weren't absolutely sure I'd agree with?!" Huix felt Snoke fuming, and his internal smile faded as it was replaced with sweat.

"Supreme Leader, I had your best int…"

Snoke cut him off "Perhaps, Hux, the initiative you have shown is in my best interest, and perhaps you deserve to be my right hand. I would kill them...after all. If not for failing to find Kylo, their utter obsessive loyalty to him and not to me". Just then Snoke's eyes bulged in surprised realization..

"He's alive. They must be hiding him from us".

"That can't be, Supreme Leader, They haven't had any contact with him at all."

"Their lies are equal to yours, Hux. They are capable of just as much treachery. Was it not you who killed your father to take his place as General? What makes you believe that others will not go to such lengths? Their values are different than yours, but equal. Do you see?"

"What are your orders Supreme Leader?" Hux grew irritated at the thought of losing his new position with the Supreme Leader as soon as the _brat _came back.

"Let them chase an imaginary ghost. Let them take us right to him. It may take time, but we will find him, and we will crush him. Play none the wiser, Hux. Be diligent and hardened in your supervision of them, but let them chase him. For your services to me, you shall be known henceforth as Lord Hux, second only to me. With this new promotion, your loyalty to me " This statement lifted Hux's spirits. Maybe there's no hope for kylo after all.

"Of course Supreme Leader. Thank you, consider it done."

Newly granted Lord Hux walked out of the room with a devious smile...

**Part II - Parallels Of Opposites**

**Masters and Apprentices**

Rey spent most of her time on Achto Talking to Chewie about his past adventures with Han, Leia and young Luke. He told her all about a frozen Han Solo, a chopped off hand and a defiant Leia. Rey was mezmorized to hear about these stories, it gave her hope and motivation to hear someone going through something similar as she is right now. When her and Chewie weren't talking about the past, they were discussing the future - the what ifs and hopes, exploring the island. Not too far, though. Rey wanted to be able to see Luke coming from a mile away, so they mainly stayed near the hut area.

"...and then the Krong thought that _I _was the bad guy just because I took some of his rations. After everything _he _did?!" Rey was spitting out a spiteful story about an encounter with an outerrim pirate who crash landed on Jakku, while Chewie was only half listening.

"So you know what I did? I…" *sssshhhheeeewwwwwbooooommmm* a ship just came out of hyper-space. Rey looked at chewie, an excited smile showing up on her face. Chewie let out a fast "ARRG" and shot up from the floor on which he was laying. Rey grabbed the lightsaber her bag and ran out of the small hut. Looking down on the mountain, she could just make out the nose of the X-Wing as it landed right next to the Falcon. Chewie motioned Rey to hop on his back - he was faster to get down the mountain. Rey jumped on his back and they took off down the hill.

"_What am I going to tell him? What is he going to say? Why am I even here?" _Rey began to doubt herself - a lesson Luke would soon train out of her.

Rey and chewie got to the bottom of the hill, and looked around. Luke wasn't there. _"Oh not again" _Rey thought. They walked to the opening of the Falcon, and Chewie looked at Rey, motioned a hand for her to stay put. "But, I've come all this way t…" Chewie more firmly held his hand up as if to say "Hold on, this is personal" as chewie took the ramp up to the entrance to the Falcon.

As Chewie walked through, he began to feel anxious, nervous and almost saddened as if Hans death was just hitting him. He understood the nature of the situation - he was going to come face to face with a very old, very close friend- Han's best friend, in fact. He walked into the cockpit and noticed Luke sitting in Han's chair.

"I came here, Chewie, to find a way to greater protect the Galaxy. A way to end all the war and fighting amongst everything and everyone. In my bigger thinking, I lost sight of the individual...the small things...the things that matter…" Luke stood up, turned around and with tears in his eyes, he said "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I wasn't there, Chewie. I'm so sorry I've been gone. You must hate..."

Chewie took two large steps toward Luke cutting off his sentence, didn't groan a word, and for the first time in many, many years, Luke and Chewie embraced each other in a forgiving hug.

Rey was sitting outside, patiently waiting for the two to finish...whatever it was they were doing. Rey respected the time they probably needed, but was impatient to begin. As soon as she heard footsteps coming toward her she scrambled onto her feet. _"Okay, this is it" _she thought. As Chewie and Luke walked down the ramp, she caught her first look on Luke Skywalker. He looked older than he was, a scar or two on his face and the determination of a life-long soldier. Her heart was racing the closer he got to her. He was ten feet away, five feet, two feet...she felt overwhelmed and as she opened her mouth to speak...He just walked right past her. Looking dumbfounded and a little surprised, she turned her head to notice he kept walking.

"Well? Aren't ya coming?" Luke said as Rey hurried to close the distance. They didn't speak until they were back at the top of the hill. Luke walked into his hut and kept the door open.

"Do you know why the care-takers have their huts built so far up this steep hill, Rey?"

How did he know her name? Rey thought better than to ask. "Floods, maybe?"

"It would take an awful lot of water to make the ocean bigger than it is, Rey. No."

Rey felt a little foolish, but also a little irritated. How was she supposed to know? She was never here before. "There is a parasite that can't survive above a certain altitude. It has a nasty habit of infecting beings who don't have well-off immune systems. Once the care-takers started noticing that their babies were getting sick from this parasite, they moved to higher ground. They didn't try to fight the parasite or kill it off - it's just doing the only thing it knows how. It's just trying to survive - they adapted. And that is the lesson of life, Rey. To adapt and hold life most precious above all else." Rey felt that this was a venting moment for Luke, so she waited.

Luke took a quick glance at the picture of him and that mysterious woman she saw, he said "Now, why are you here?" The truth was Rey didn't know. She was sent here by the resistance for...some reason. "I'm not quite sure. I...something to do with the Jedi." Luke wasn't surprised by this notion. Of course it has something to do with the jedi, what doesn't? "And what are you looking for?" With that, Rey said something Luke did not expect. "Answers. Answers to what I feel, what guides me. I think General Leia knew what I was looking for." "At least she knows the feeling, Rey. Come with me, there's something you need to see." Luke knew why she was there - to be trained, even if she didn't exactly know it yet.

Luke and Rey walked across the island to a tree - no ordinary looking tree. It looked familiar to Rey, and felt familiar too. It was massive, with a hole inside of it big enough to walk through. Luke stopped at this entrance, and motioned Rey to walk in. As she did, goosebumps ran throughout her body. She felt at home. As she walked deeper into the tree, she noticed a stack of books. "I've...I've been here before. I've touched these books" her face lit up with a smile only a child would get after finding a long lost toy. "What you're feeling is the force, Rey. These books were written by the ancient Jedi. They hold deep secrets about the force. Over the years, the Jedi began iding these secrets from each other so no one Jedi would become too powerful, too much of a threat to the Galaxy; but no matter how hard they held the secrets, evil would find its way anyway. Now look outside" Rey stepped back to the entrance to take in the scenery. She saw all types of animals and insects, grass and water creatures, even the care-takers in the distance as a light gust of wind blew across her face.

"Everything here holds the power of the force. No secrets are being kept, no lines drawn and everything is living in perfect harmony. There is disorder in order, chaos in harmony, but as long as the balance is kept there will be peace. IT is not our job to tell the universe what it can and can not do, it is our job to get rid of the perversions of this balance. They seek to destroy, we seek to preserve. Do you see?"

Rey began to understand the lesson here. She nodded.

"You're here to be trained, Rey, are you not?"

"As a Jedi? Like you?"

"Something like that. I'm willing to train you. Your awakening has sparked a very peculiar shockwave through the force, something I've never felt. It's calling upon you, Rey. You'll come quick to realize that "the legendary luke skywalker" is a hard burden to bear." "But you're a hero!" Rey exclaimed.

"Everyone holds on to the "hero" aspect, no one notices the sacrifices and hardship that comes along with it. If you're willing to be my apprentice, and listen to my teachings - do exactly, EXACTLY what I say, I'll teach you."

"I have this" Rey took the lightsaber out of her bag "I mean yes, I accept master Skywalker, but I have this." and handed it to Luke. He looked at it and memories began to fill his mind. "I'll take that" he said and clipped it on his belt. "Now, first lesson, go to the top of the hill, touch the hut and run back."

"W-what? You want me to…?" Luke raised his eyebrows and lowered his head slightly. "Uh..Yes, okay, yes!" and Rey took off.

"Mmmhhhmmmhhhmmm" a chuckled voice laughed from behind Luke. "Much to learn she has, young Skywalker. Teach her well, you will, yes? Hmm?"

"I'm going to need your help on this one, Master Yoda. After everything that has happened, I feel my judgement is a little…"

"Clouded?" said the voice of Obi Wan Kenobi. "It wasn't too long ago that you were questioning _my_ training methods, too. Making her run up that hill, what's the point?"

"She needs to learn to listen to orders, then the training can begin."

The force ghosts faded out of sight and luke chuckled.

Kylo lay on the cold, hard floor of a damp and dark cave, motionless, but what was happening in his mind was the absolute opposite. In his mind, he was in a world of is own creation. He could not tell the difference between the real world and this one, but it was different - windy and dead. There were tangible things, people he didn't recognize and food to eat, but he couldn't eat any of it. He was a younger version of himself. Wearing the same Jedi robes he had been the day he left Luke's tutelage.

"Your training starts here, Solo." Said the hardened voice of a sith ghost.

"Who are you? Where am I?!" cried Kylo.

"You are nowhere. The void, the endless sleep" said the voice. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" as intense hatred came from the voice which didn't seem to have a source, it was everywhere. Then, a figure began to materialize in front of Kylo, a burned and charred figure, as if it were a coal burning from the inside ready to fall apart. "I am Darth Sion. You will spend many lifetimes with me until you learn. I am your new master, and I am to teach you PAIN!" Kylo went for his lightsaber, but it wasn't there. He panicked and tried to use the force to push the ghost away, but he couldn't, his eyes widened with fear. In that moment, Kylo's insides began to burn so hot he couldn't handle it. He was screaming so loud, but everyone around him just kept moving. He saw his mother, and cried out for help. "Mother! Leia! Help me!" she looked down, and kept walking. Was he going to die? Why was this happening?

"Fear. Sentiment. Love. All attributes the Sith do not warrant, Solo. I want you to DIE!" As if the pain couldn't get any worse, it began to char his skin into what looked like grey ash. He was seeing visions of Luke killing Snoke and taking over the Galaxy as he wanted to. He saw his mother by Lukes Side. He saw a vision of his grave - a minimalist headstone in which would eventually be built over by construction, to be forgotten over time. "No!" he screamed. Everything seemed so real, he thought all of this was happening in real life. The psychological torture along with the physical pain was enough to break him. "I won't be broken, I wont!" _HE _wanted to be the one to rule the galaxy, he wanted to be the one to kill snoke AND skywalker, and it was all falling apart in front of him.

"Yes. YES! Feel the Pain inside of you!" The torture seemed to go on for years. He was slowly aging while his body was slowly turning into an exact reflection of that..monster.

As loud as he could scream, and as hard as he tried, he would be broken. It had seemed to be years, stuck in the same torturous pain.

"Sith use this pain, Solo. Sith are beings of ACTION!"

Kylo could see his mother walking toward him, Luke's lightsaber in her hand, ready to strike him down. Kylo closed his eyes…

"NO!" Screamed the voice "Sith do not feel fear!" just as the lightsaber plunged into his chest. He screamed in pain. "AAAH!"

He broke.

Kylo felt weak, his body still in increasing pain, but he was becoming numb to it.

"You will fight or you will DIE!" Kylo let out a scream louder than he ever had, not in agony, but in resolve. He slowly began to stand up.

"Use your pain, Solo! This is the Galaxy if you do not ACT! The JEDI! THE JEDI!"

Immediately after those words, he saw Luke coming toward him, lightsaber ready. Now a fully aged Kylo Ren, after what seemed like years being there in this world, he wasted no time running toward luke grabbing Luke by the throat as he began to squeeze. Luke tried to swing his saber but kylo knocked it out of his hand. Gripping tighter and tighter, Lukes legs eventually went limp, but it wasn't enough. He had been tortured for years, the death of Skywalker only angered him _more!_ He wanted more - he needed to kill more of everyone who hurt him. "Where's Snoke?!" Kylo was ready to hunt him down - he had forgotten this wasn't the real world.

Kylo felt a large pull and all of a sudden, he was back laying on the floow of the cave. He was quickly reminded of his reality. He opened his eyes, and they were shining a very deep orange… _"Death awaits them all"_

"We've been at this for weeks Master Skywalker!" Rey nagged as she threw a pile of logs on the ground that Luke made her fetch for no apparent reason. "When am I going to train Like a REAL Jedi?"

Luke let out a long exhale. "Rey, what makes you think that _I _was trained "as a real Jedi"?"

Rey's surprise took hold. "You're LUKE SKYWALKER! Of course you're a real Jedi".

Luke pondered, he thought it best to save this lesson for later.

"Very well Rey. We'll begin the real training."

Rey Hopped up without missing a beat. "I'm ready!"

Luke's eyes rolled - "The first thing you need to do is calm yourself, Rey. You can't begin to feel the force if you're trying to hurry to get there. Finesse."

Rey straightened her back. "Finesse. Yes, Master Skywalker"

"I'm not going to train you as a Jedi, Rey…" Before he could even finish what he was saying, Rey let out a frustrated "What?!"

"Let me finish, let me finish. The term Jedi doesn't mean anything in itself Rey. It was used to describe light-sided force users. They were tasked with keeping peace in the galaxy."

"Light sided? That means there's a dark, like Kylo" Luke hesitated slightly at the name.

"Yes, like Kylo, there is a dark side. Remember the balance we discussed before - light and dark. They called themselves the Sith, and over time, the Jedi became obsessed with keeping the Sith at bay, and vice versa, completely forgetting about service to the force. You will not be a Jedi, the Galaxy needs something new."

"What does it need?"

"It needs you. Something bigger than a Jedi, more pure and in a strange way more aligned with the values of the ancient Jedi than the ones you may know, me included. I'm not sure myself what that's called, but whatever it is, the force seems to think you're it."

"And you just believe that?"

"Yes, Rey. We're servants to the force, and it's our partner to help keep it in balance. It doesn't work for us, Rey. It works with us. Through us. Do you understand?"

Rey made a resolute knod.

"Sit, Rey. Sit, like I am now." Luke sat with his legs crossed. Rey copied.

"You have the force in you, Rey. Like I said, I was not trained as a typical Jedi, and you will not be either. To feel the force, you must let go. Let go of everything - expectations, grudges, feelings. Expect nothing. Sit here, let your mind free, when you feel it, you'll know. I have nothing to teach you until you are ready."

Hours and hours went by as Rey just sat, eyes closed. She felt nothing. _"Keep at it, Rey" _she told herself. More hours passed by, then days. Still, nothing. Then, one day, as she was walking up to the huts to go to sleep after a long day of what seemed like just sitting, she looked up at the stars and smiled. She was captivated by them, as if they had no other job than to make her happy. She felt lifted, more so than ever before. All of the troubles in the galaxy seemed to pass away into the air. Then she felt something. A tiny drop of water in a giant ocean. It was a peculiar feeling, but it was amazing. She knew this had to be her chance. She sat, crossed her legs and closed her eyes.

She was greeted by the same feeling, but 100 fold. She felt like she was being taken on a journey across the cosmos as she saw beams of stars pass by her eyes. She saw suns and laughing families. Hesitatingly, she reached out to with this feeling like something was going to reach back, and she felt a connection. Her vision in her mind's eye went white, and she felt a foundation build beneath her, like she knew exactly who she was and what she was meant for. She made contact with the force. She opened her eyes, a tinge of maturity glowed from them. She looked around, it was almost dawn. She couldn't believe it! She rushed to Lukes hut and frantically knocked on the door. Luke staggered up and opened it.

"I felt it! I think I felt the force!"

Luke smiled.

Their days were filled with meditations on the force, basic push/pull exercises using the force, basic lightsaber combat techniques and styles and jedi history and force philosophy.

Rey was a fast learner, but too eager as it would land her into trouble sometimes with the training blaster. She'd be shot in the face, stomach, legs, chest almost 100 times a day while she was learning to deflect blaster fire. Her meditations were where she shined. She was going deeper and deeper into the force. She'd remember the things Luke would tell her throughout her days.

"There is no dark side or light side, Rey. There is the balance. Used with a generous heart and to protect others, the force is a whole, not two halves."

She slowly began to progress. Pulling a rock or stick to her from a distance, sometimes it only came to her halfway. Only being shot by the training bolt a 50 times per body part and meditating on the force even deeper.

"The force isn't ours to use, Rey. Partners, not employees."

She felt like giving up sometimes, as the training grew harder and harder, but would remember what Luke said to her one day during a particularly long run.

"I had the entire galaxy on my shoulders, Rey. Everyone was looking to me to fix their problems, and I'd always feel the cries of a family that was slaughtered by the first order, and I didn't give up. It's easy to be a Jedi when everyone is on your side or when you have an entire government to fall back on, but Jedi don't give up, and you won't either."

She progressed.

Eventually able to bring an entire object to her with ease using the force, perfecting the basics of multiple styles of lightsaber combat and beginning to develop her own opinions on the force. She was always wanting to learn new tricks with the force, but Luke always said "there are no tricks in the force, Rey. The force can do anything you can imagine, and much more. You can use it to do anything, you just have to feel it and project it forward. I will not teach you like some brute where everything is black and white, and no student of mine will have such a mentality."

She would laugh at the sight of Chewie playing pranks on Luke like taking the X-wing for a joy ride and throwing rocks at him while he was teaching Rey.

She began the next phase of training,and was getting complacent. One day Luke went to her and said "You want something new?" Rey smiled, but so did Luke. Almost a devious smile.

"I've got a bad feeling about this" said Rey.

"Once..you reach..this hill you'll take...a left!" Luke cried out in staggering words while he was riding on the back of rey as she was running aimlessly throughout the island. The care-takers looking on them like they were crazy. Rey was tired, covered in sweat while Luke was spewing off Jedi philosophy in her ear. "A jedi always... persists, Rey! The calling, the mission...is what always..comes first! Duty...then emot-t-t-t-ion!" as rey was running on a particularly rocky area.

Eventually Rey was able to deflect every blaster bolt, perfected the novice phase of all the lightsaber styles and feeling both the force as a whole now. She was able to push and pull things of great weight and size with absolute ease, even experimenting with levitation and force-lightning (an ability she didn't seem to enjoy in the least), force jump and all sorts of powers, all without being taught _how. _Luke was adamant about not teaching _how _but teaching _when. _"The force can do anything you want...you just need to feel…" She'd remind herself.

Luke was noticing this trend. She was becoming among the most powerful he had ever seen. Mature, swift and precise in everything she did, he was wondering how powerful she would become later in life. Even more powerful than him, he wondered.

One day (about a year and a half later), while she was finishing up a dueling session with Luke, Luke smiled and she heard a resounding "Well, hello there!" Surprised, Rey was greeted by three blue-ish glowing people. "Master, who are they?" "Oh, I'm sure they'll introduce themselves."

"Master Yoda, I am. Skywalkers Master, yes. Hmm."

"Obi Wan Kenobi, also Lukes Master at one point."

"Anakin Skywalker, Luke's Father"

She was filled with happiness to finally meet the three. Luke mentioned they may stop by, but she never thought they'd actually do it. She was in awe at this moment. PArtially because she was talking to ghosts, and partially because she never knew life had such amazing things to offer.

"We've come to give our guidance."

Luke, already used to this and eating a fruit yelled out "It's about time!"

As Rey was training her way with the force, so was Kylo. After his first experience with Darth Sion, he spent all of his time waiting for another lesson from the ancient Sith. Wondering and hoping that he would get his chance to train Under Darth Vader, whom he still had yet to make contact with. HE spent his days watching Sith holocrons left behind by dark side users, exploring the Sith grounds and meditating on the dark side to get closer to it. He felt closest to the dark side when he would be standing in the hot Korriban sun outside of the temple. With the wind blowing sand in his face, the sun beating down on him in his black robes and solitude settling in, the uncomfortable feelings made him grow stronger. Learning to use his pain to further his connection to the dark side. HE would ponder on his mother, Luke, Snoke (who ws surely searching for him through the force) and everything else that would let his hatred grow.

He would have many more lessons under various dark side users whom were powerful enough to enter the rock that Sidious left behind. He believed himself dark enough before he got to the planet, he believed himself strong enough before he met the girl, he was utterly wrong, and the sith would spare no time reminding him.

In the world he unwillingly was thrown into via unconsciousness for every lesson, a Sith screamed at him "More ferocity, Solo! Spitting image of your father! Weakness! More! More!" As he was training in lightsaber combat with Darth Malgus, a previous Dark Lord of the Sith.

"You need to let your hatred fuel your technique! No holding back, the Sith do not Hesitate!"

Striking more ferociously, he would have his legs chopped off, and his arms if he made even the slightest mistake. They would always be there when he looked down, but it would feel as if they were actually chopped off.

"Do not grow frustrated, young Han. Frustration leads to sloppiness. Sloppiness leads to failure. Sith do not fail! We expect perfection in ferocity! No frustration in your hatred, Sith do not become tangled in their emotions! We are pure."

As his lightsaber training progressed, he felt like he had been there in years. Darth Malgus forced him into an un-ending battle with him until he won. After what seemed like years (Kylo starting off as a younger version of himself and growing into the age he is now) he finally struck down Darth Malgus by swinging his lightsaber across the neck of the Sith Lord. Once again, he felt a strong pull and he was back on the floor of the cave, wanting more.

He wasted no time, practicing what he had learned from his two previous encounters with the Sith. Spending more days researching the ancient archives of Korriban, the hidden tunnels and caves. Learning more force abilities and finding himself becoming increasingly angry with the solitude.

"Knowledge is the path to true power, Kylo. You must read and memorize these books. You will come across one more knowledgeable than you, and they will slaughter you. Do this before your body dies and decays. This is my lesson to you" The ancient Dark Lord Darth Revan exclaimed to Kylo. Piles and piles of books lay ahead of him. Again, he was a younger version of himself in this world. Spending year studying and learning. He would learn more about the dark side than he ever thought possible, seemingly even more than Snoke. He felt the power beginning to truly rise in him, as did Snoke.

"Do not become too confident in your abilities, outsider" exclaimed darth Bane, the creator of the rule of two. Greater Sith than you have met their demise because they could not come to grips that they are not all powerful. There was only one all powerful sith."

"Who was that, Master?" Kylo asked, knowing full well the answer.

"ME!" Yelled Bane. "I am the only one who was patient enough, who had the vision of a Sith ruled Galaxy to not allow my arrogance get in the way. You would do well to abide by my teachings." It seemed the lessons taught by Bane, some in lightsaber combat, some force abilities, but mostly mentality guidance.

"Revan is wise to teach you knowledge, but I am here to teach you wisdom, young Ren." It was the first time a sith lord called him by his chosen name, Ren. Sith transcend the need to save the entire Galaxy because we seek the larger picture. We feel without restraint, unapologetically. We become whatever we allow ourselves to feel…it is what separates us from the disillusioned Jedi. The Jedi who only have strength in their numbers, not their hearts. Weak fools, the Jedi." Ren took his teachings to heart the most from the years he spent with Plageuis.

"Peace is a lie. There is only passion. Through passion I gain strength. Through strength I gain power. Through power I gain victory. Through victory my chains are broken. The Force shall free me. Speak these words, young Ren. My apprentice, Darth Vader knew these words to be true, he felt these words like he felt the blood within his veins. If you wish to be his heir, you must know them equally." Ren learned many things under Darth Sidious, including dark side alchemy and various miscellaneous teachings.

A year and a half had passed, and Ren was becoming increasingly powerful. So powerful the Sith were wondering if they could keep him any longer. Kylo was constantly studying, practicing, was amongst the most powerful they had ever seen. Taking every single lesson to heart and creating new philosophies, techniques and methods all on his own. They revelled in what they were creating. The force did, in fact, set him free.

"Let the force guide your actions, Rey. It will never lead you to a wrong place" said the force ghost of Anakin Skywalker as him and Obi wan were supervising her lightsaber motions.

"The chosen one you believe she is, yes?" said yoda to Luke, a bit of a distance from Rey.

"How many chosen ones have there been, MAster Yoda? I didn't pick her, the force did, and for whatever reason, she is what the Galaxy needs right now."

"Give up on the Jedi, have you? A jedi you are, Luke."

"Hopefully the last one, Master Yoda. She can learn from us, but the galaxy is calling for something more pure than what we had been in the past."

"Disagree with you, I do not. Know what this is, I also do not. Lead her the best way you can, you must."

With that, Yoda was suddenly with Rey, making her hold rocks above her head with the force as he added more and more to the stack.

"Let go, you should not. Mmmmhhhmmmhhhmmm. Make quick decisions you will often have to." laughing with his checkered laugh. Luke looked on joyfully, and nervously for what she will go through in her life…

During the training of Rey and Kylo, the Resistance had their hands full as well. Finn, still injured and on support walked throughout the outpost of the resistance. He was watching over the resistance fighters target practice with their blasters. Noticing one fighter having trouble with getting the shot pattern in a consistent area on the target, he felt nostalgic, remembering when he was being brainwashed and forced to endure hours and hours on end on the range to perfect his blaster fire.

"Keep your elbows in, trooper" Finn said. The fighter looked back at him, not knowing if he was talking to him at the moment or not. When he noticed he was, the fighter did as he said, and his shots became instantly grouped better on the target.

"And use both of your eyes to shoot. Having one eye open will only swing the shot left or right, you'll never know which"

The shot groups were almost perfect after that. The fighter gave a smile and nod. Finn kept walking when another came to him. "Can you help me with my blaster pistol shooting? I'm having the same problem."

As Finn took the time to show the young fighter how to properly shoot the pistol, he noticed there were more problems with their mechanics than there were fighters themselves!

He got everyone's attention.

"Excuse me! Excuse me, everyone!" The fighters stopped firing and turned their attention to him.

"How many of you, by show of hands, know how to shoot _well_?" No one raised a hand.

"Oh, geez, okay. How many of you _want _to shoot well?" They all raised their hands. Alright, this is what we're going to do. He began discussing a training regimine for the fighters that would take them through all of the operational procedures to become skilled combatants.

Looking from the background, Leia and Poe were standing next to each other.

"Why didn't we think of this sooner, general?"

"Oh, i'm not sure, but it's a damn good idea. We'll put him in charge of training. For now, we have another problem."

"What's that?"

"I found this in my quarters, it's a listening device." Poe looked down at the small device.

"Do you think that could've been left from before?"

"No, we swept all the rooms - standard procedure." Poe looked worried.

"We have a spy." said Leia. "and I want you to find out who."

"Me?!" said poe. I'm a pilot, I'm no spy, what am I supposed to do, put up signs?"

"Look, you're well respected and well liked within our community, people trust you. Finn will be training, a service we greatly need especially from a highly trained former storm trooper, I'll be running the everyday things, you're the only one I can trust. It's an order, commander."

"Ugh, not an order. Fine, but what am I supposed to do if I catch this spy?"

Leia handed poe a small, concealable blaster pistol.

"You want me to kill him!"

"No, no, but just in case...I'd rather they go than you. And don't be so sure it's a him. Maybe start with the new people, we've vetted almost everyone else, but within the past year, we've had at least 30 new recruits. Could be any of them."

Poe, looking unsure, took the pistol. "Yes, general. I'll do what I can."

Poe spent the next day gathering a list of the resistance recruits to show up within the last year. Names, dates, birthplaces and any possible affiliation or sympathy for the First Order. He then compiled the list and referenced them by birth place with known First Order occupied planets.

Poe tried to set multiple traps for the spy, but none of them worked. Jayen was far too skilled to be captured by an amature like Poe. She would get a good laugh at watching Poe as he would attempt to leave a sensitive file lying around and try to question the first person who picked it up. The issue was, leaving sensitive files was out of his character, and no one fell for it. He then tried to watch people who were leaving to be alone for a short period, only to be thwarted again by a dead end. Jayen knew he was going to need a team soon, and so would she; but she took advantage of his inattention to detail by gathering more and more of her own information. While he was away, she'd use the tunnels (which no one seemed to know about) to steal or copy files, put together psychological profiles of the resistance as individuals and a people, things like that.

As a year passed, Jayen knew Poe was going to recruit a team, and she predicted the time period perfectly. Finn was still training the Resistance Military, and they were becoming more and more effective and efficient. Finn was often looked to during this time period to keep morale high and became a mentor and a true leader of the Resistance. Giving them vital information about the First Order to aid in their attacks, and coming up with new battle strategies.

"A spy?!" Finn said in a hasty whisper. "Here, in the resistance?"

"Yes, okay. I've been on the trail for a little over a year, and I need your help."

"So, why are we standing out in the middle of nowhere?"

"I needed to be sure no one could hear us. I'm finding listening devices everyday and I can't seem to pin who was doing it! I have a very specific question to ask you. Do you think we could plant a spy in the First Order? Someone high up, someone who is close to the leadership so we can figure out who is behind all of this."

"Well, no I don't think it's possible." Leia walked in, Finn stayed silent. "Don't worry, I called her" said Poe. "I want to put a spy in the First Order." Poe said, even before Leia had a chance to speak. Taken a-back, Leia pondered for a moment. "I think I may know a way. Do you want to fly again, Poe?" Poe smiled.

It would be a quick, but dangerous mission. The mission was to bring food and supplies to the unknown species in the unknown regions. The same species that advises Snoke. After the First Order took over the Galaxy, the species, a once and advanced race was shunned and stripped of resources from the First Order. They were forced to serve Snoke as a means of survival. Needless to say, they didn't like him much.

The mission was simple: bring supplies and resources to the planet by establishing underground trade routes and humanitarian aid with existing nearby planets. Let the news spread to the advisors of Snoke, and hopefully one will make contact. The species were utterly loyal to each other, and sought peace and prosperity amongst their ranks. This would be a move that hopefully the First Order wouldn't hear about, but pay for.

"You have been briefed, you have the planets and the system you are to put into place, correct, Poe?" Leia looked at him sternly. "Yes, general. Along with the names and contact information of everyone we're meeting with."

"Okay, good. This is the unknown regions, Poe. There are very few routes in or out of there. Do not stray away from them or who knows what will get you!"

"I understand, General." Poe began to grasp the gravity of the situation.

"You sure you're good to fly, buddy?" Poe said, turning his head to Finn who was faced away from him in the co-pilot seat of the X-wing. "Yeah, I think I'm good!" No longer on medical support, Finn adjusted himself in the seat and threw a thumbs up.

"First stop in the outer rim planet of d'Qar, next, the Unknown regions!" The x-wing started up, and Leia looked longingly as the X-Wing departed the atmosphere. "May the force be with you."

"The trip will take a while, Finn, settle in". With all the time the two had to spare, they met each other in a couple of heart-to-heart conversations about why they Joined the Resistance, why Poe deserted the first Order, laughing at funny stories from past excursions (something Finn couldn't relate to much) and discussing what-ifs about the future.

As many hours passed, Finn began to look out the window at the blue hyperspace tunnel - wondering where Rey was. He missed her. After the Outer rim stop of D'qar to refuel, resupply and take a well needed bathroom break, the boys were back in the cockpit and ready to head off.

Poe took a deep breath in. "We need to stay on the course, Finn. Even there, we don't know if we'll make it out in one piece."

"That's great news" Finn said sarcastically. With a light chuckle, Poe was off.

Hyperspace in the Unknown Regions was strange. As they both looked outside the window to the blue tunnel, there were streaks of green, red and sometimes grey. "This place gives me the creeps" said Poe. About two more hours and we'll have to get out of hyperspace and jump to lightspeed. It's too unstable and risky to be in hyperspace here in a minute.

About two hours went by and Poe made the switch to light speed. "Everything seems to be going fine! There was nothing to worry about al all, we're about thirty minutes away from drop!"

Just then the red alert lights began to buzz off the hook, and Poe immediately took it out of

Lightspeed to find themselves being pulled in by a giant Gravity well.

Their eyes widened as they saw the well in the distance, but it was beyond the distance of a planet's gravity pull. "Oh, man, oh man Poe get us out of here!" The well was pulling them in at an extraordinary speed.

"I'm on it! I'll have to jump to lightspeed and I don't know what's in front of us!" "Just do it!" The Well was pulling them in, and the ship seemed like it was starting to crush. The metal began to make noises. They were running out of time.

Poe put the X-wing into lightspeed and they barely made it out alive. Still startled by the quick experience, the red signal alerts started beeping frantically once again!

"What now!" Poe pulled the ship of of lightspeed almost as fast as he put it in lightspeed. They managed to fly themselves far off course into an asteroid field filled with red and orange acidic rocks.

"Awe what the hell" Finn said. Poe, not even thinking started to maneuver this way and that, dodging all of the asteroids and trying to keep the two alive.

"Probably a bad time to say it, but we're waaaaaay off course!" Said poe. He was scared for his life, but danger was what he lived for and he was strangely the happiest he had ever been.

In true "galaxies best pilot" fashion, Poe was pulling off the most advanced and impressive moves with an X-wing he had ever. Having fun and enjoying himself, he let out a loud "WOOO!" every time he'd have a close call. "You're having fun with this, aren't you?!" Finn screamed. "He's crazy. This is crazy" Finn whispered to himself.

Even though Poe was the best pilot in the galaxy, even this became too much as he was flying into thicker and thicker asteroids. It became too much, it was impossible to move around them all.

"Hold on!" Poe screamed as they were flying right into four huge asteroids that were about to collide with each other. Then, their vision went black.

Poe and Finn awoke to the sight of four very tall beings they had not seen before. Slowly opening their eyes, their fuzzy vision began to come into focus. They were greeted by the sight of very tall aliens with purple eyes, wearing purple robes. Poe instantly noticed them.

"Did you save us?" Poe said. Finn, knowing better than to ask questions, thinking about survival and meeting on common ground. "We are the resistance, general Leia Organa sent us to discuss covert trade routes with you."

The mute species could not speak, nor hear, but they understood through the force. They picked up the two resistance fighters, cleaned them up and took them back to their home planet.

It was a strange planet, not one Poe felt comfortable on. They discussed the plan, met up with the various leaders on other planets and set up a secret trade route for the species in return for information on how to navigate the unknown regions.

During the time that Poe and Finn were working with various planets to set everything up, the news had already reached Snokes advisor Ko Tor. Now the species could thrive on their planet like they did before, researching scientific theories and feeding their people. Ko Tor was pleased they would go to such great lengths to aid their people, so he sent a secret, encrypted message to the Resistance that had three very simple words - "I will help."

The next six months were spent trading intelligence back and forth from First Order to Resistance and back. Things were going well for the Resistance. The advisor was setting up a network of spies to take down the first order in time, putting "time bombs" at pivotal parts of the First Order (resources and stations) as well as to take down prime leadership.

"Hmm...interesting…" Said Captain Phasma as she got the report from Jayen via holoimage.

"I think they have a spy in the First Order, Captain. I'm not sure who or how they went about it, but there's a significant change in their behavior patterns. I'll keep you updated."

"Very well, Jayen. My focus now will be pulled from the resistance to finding the spy here. That means you'll have to pull double duty. Do you understand" "yes, captain."

"And Jayen, if anyone were to find you, you know what to do." Jayen gave a stern knod, and the holoimage flickered out of sight.

"Fn-2187… I underestimated you…"

Jayen thought quickly. She needed a team, or at least a partner, and found the first person she could think of.

"I think there's a First Order spy in our ranks, D'oal!" He looked shocked.

"What?! It can't be. We need to tell general Organa, now!"

"No, no no no. We can't. No one can know we have this information! You have to help me find out who it is."

"What? Oh, no. Absolutely not. I'm not getting wrapped up in this."

"You have to d'oal! It's your duty!"

"...fine. I'll help you."

Jayen smiled. "We'll get whoever this is." Now she had a partner who would help her with her assignments. Someone naive enough to fall for all of her tricks.

**Part III - The War**

**Stones**

The next six months for both kylo and Rey were spent training under the apparitions of their respective mentors. Rey, becoming far more powerful than even Luke might have thought was possible in this amount of time, was using the force in ways he never thought about. He was happy to see the way he was training her was paying off. She had mastered two lightsaber forms (form 4 and form 6 with a distinct proficiency, not mastery, in form 3) and had a workable knowledge of other forms. Even with her power, which her **potential** stretched far more than even Luke's, Luke had experience on her and was still the more powerful force user at the time - still kicking her butt every so often, and laughing about it when he did.

Kylo was the same. The Sith ghosts were now unable to render him unconscious as they were before, and he was traveling in and out of their plane of existence at will, demanding more and more training. Kylo was becoming a master of different weapons and force techniques.

The two were both fully trained and powerful force users and combatants at this time. Kylo, a dark side purist and Rey a force purist, taking in all elements of the force. It was peculiar that they became so well practiced by this time, it was as if they were feeding off of each other. Powerful light, powerful darkness.

"Where is darth Vader?" Kylo demanded the ancient Sith. he summoned them through the force. "I demand to train with him."There was silence, but he felt them there. Finally, a sith spoke, the voice of Darth Traya. "Kylo… it is the will of the dark side that brought you here. You survived these years of training, and further survived the torture you endured amongst our plane of existence. You are truly powerful. It is my will that you be granted dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Ren. Kylo did not care for his new title. "Go now, Darth Ren, destroy the Jedi. A new threat arises to contend with your rule."

"I said I demanded to train with Darth Vader, my grandfather - my birthright!" Another voice spoke up in reply, it was the voice of Darth Sidious. "You fool! Did you really believe Darth Vader was here? He was destroyed with Anakin Skywalker. He was Destroyed by Luke!" Sidious' crackling laugh filled the enormous cave. Kylo was infuriated. He took a moment and replied.

"You call yourself Lords of the Sith. You granted me the title, but I reject it! All you desire is to kill the Jedi and it has limited your perception! I am _more _than Sith, I am _more _than any of you!"

Kylo held his hand up, reaching out with the force toward the rock that Sidious created. His hand began to shake profusely. He grinded his teeth and furrowed his brow. The rock was fighting back, it did not want to be destroyed. Kylo reached out with all his might...he closed his fist...

*ccccccckkkkkkkkrack!* Screams of a thousand Sith filled the cave while a red/orange light exploded from the rock - Kylo was pushed back against the cave wall, and then there was silence.

"_Powerful light...powerful darkness...powerful light...powerful darkness…"_ went through Rey's mind as she was meditating on the force. It came to Rey that she was training on the force as whole, and never separates the two, but she was curious. Curious about what powerful darkness looked like. She went to Luke for guidance.

"The dark is not something you should meddle in soley, Rey. It is a perversion of the Force - an attempt to bend it to an individual will. I do not want you to look too deeply into it, Rey. You're not ready to handle the temptation."

"Master Skywalker, I was just hoping I could see it." Luke looked very irritated at this notion.

"The fact that it's itching you means that you would fall victim to it, Rey."

"I've seen the light in all it's power, I want to see the dark! You taught me to experience the force in all extremes of the spectrum. I just want to know, Master." Luke thought about it, yes he did in fact teach her to feel the force in its totality, but tried to shield her from certain truths. He thought _this is how people fall to the dark side, they're kept from it_. He elected to show her.

"Very well, Rey. come with me." It was night time, Rey's favorite time of day when the universe pulls down it's blanket and reveals itself. She always felt so full of life when she got to admire the stars. Luke sat down, crossed his legs and began to speak. "You need to know, the only reason I'm showing this to you is to expose it to you. You are right, I need to show everything to you." He then focused on the force. Rey felt a sudden urge to look out into the distance - the horizon of the ocean. She smiled a bit as she saw the stars touching the water line, space glistfully flirting with earth. Her smile soon faded as her stomach began to twist and her heart sank. The stars were beginning to cover with clouds. Angry, vengeful clouds with intense lightning and harsh winds she never saw before. The clouds seemed to be duplicating exponentially, making more and more lightning and heavier winds - it was getting closer. Her eyes growing wider with fear beginning to develop in her. Her stomach was twisting even more now - she never felt such an uneasy feeling. She just wanted it to stop! The storm was close now, she couldn't handle it anymore!

"Stop!" Rey cried out and Luke let go of the force. Rey sat down, drained completely of energy. "What was that?"

"A force storm, Rey. A technique I picked up from the Book of The Sith from Darth Sidious. A powerful dark side ability that wreaks havoc on everything it touches. That is not even close to the depths the dark side goes to, it was just a taste. If you were to fall to the dark side Rey, and it is extremely tempting once your lips touch that drug, you'll be pulled in completely. That feeling you are feeling now will only increase. For as long as you're a slave to it. It is good to see the force as a whole, lightness and darkness, but keep both in check. Too much dark will take your soul. Too much light will take your ability. The force is a whole, not two halves - no light side, no dark side, Rey. It just is."

Luke allowed Rey to take the rest of the night to rest and recuperate. He knew she'd explore the dark side eventually to better understand it as he did, but when she was ready. She's not ready yet.

Luke decided it's time to test her abilities. "This is an ancient test, almost a friendly competition amongst Jedi. The Muntuur Stones have been a staple in the Jedi Order since time in memorium. I've lifted all seven, Yoda has lifted all seven, and it's time to see how many you can lift. These aren't the original stones, but they are exactly the same, really. Remember, before you begin, a meditation beforehand is recommended. This is a training exercise, the size and weight of the stones offer a unique struggle while using the force. It takes one to be completely lost in the force to move even a one. It's a practice to dive deeper into the force than you could otherwise meditating on it without a task or distraction."

"What if I can't lift all the stones, Master Skywalker?"

"Don't worry about that, Rey - it doesn't mean you're good or bad, strong or weak - have fun with it. Be patient, and feel." Rey sat inside of the large circle of stones and began to meditate. Luke left, as he knew it would be a while. Watching from the hut on the top of the hill, Luke patiently waited. After about an hour, Luke noticed Rey was jostling a couple around, Luke saw that there was no strain on Rey. Her face showed no stress or struggle - she was completely immersed in the force. After another half hour, the first one lifted off the ground. Just a few feet, but it counted nonetheless. Then, a few minutes later, the next on, again just a few feet, but it was floating. By the end of it, she had three stones off the ground and the fourth was twitching a bit, but she couldn't seem to get it off the ground. She let the stones hover for a few minutes, slightly moving up and down as they hovered, and she let them land lightly back on the ground.

Rey was covered in sweatful pride. She smiled up at Luke, excited and proud. Luke let off a half smile _"Three is good" _he thought.

**Kylo Returns**

After Regaining his composure, Kylo felt ready to fulfill his heart's desire - take over the galaxy, bend the force to his will and kill all who have betrayed him. He had a plan, team up with Snoke so Skywalker could kill Snoke, dispatch the girl easily, kill Luke in the mess of it all and take the throne. He didn't lack battle tactics and proper planning (something he learned from Bane), but he was more of a "direct approach" type of fighter. Take it by force. He deemed Korriban his new home, and set up a place there.

"Knights of Ren" Kylo said over the radio. They immediately heard it, but he sounded more confident than ever before, more mature. "I am ready for our reunion. Come to Korriban, meet me there. We have plans to discuss."

"Yes, master Ren."

"We will fulfill your will as you command" the Knights slivered.

The head Knight spoke - "We should bring Master Ren a gift"

"Yesss, a gift. The girl"

"A short stop on Actoo, then, yes?" "Indeed, a short stop on Actoo."

With that, the Knights sped off to Actoo to catch Rey.

As Rey was sleeping in her stone bed in the hut, lightsaber and staff on her night stand (which was really just a large rock), she began to have a funny feeling. She snuggled herself tighter under her blankets and chalked it up as nothing. Then, she heard a small *tick*. She opened one eye to look - it was just a small pebble falling off a bigger rock. Nuzzling herself in again, she heard it again, and look. It was a similar pebble, falling off a rock but higher on the wall this time. She began to wonder, so she sat up and looked around. Just before she way about to lay down once more, a small pebble fell right into her lap. She looked up.

KABOOOM!

The knights entered the small hut like air enters a vessel once the entrance is opened. All of a sudden there were four of them inside her hut! They blew the roof open on the hut! Immediately standing and reaching out with the force, she summoned her lightsaber to her. Letting out a loud scream, rey moved with the force to the first Knight, striking him down with a swift swing of her saber. The knights wouldn't be staying still, when she moved, they moved.

Thinking quickly, the other knights scrambled behind Rey, hitting her on the back with their weapons. One was a spear which one knight used to hit her wrists, knocking her lightsaber out of her hand and grabbed it. The other was a large hammer. Rey was lucky it didn't break her back. In true Ataru fashion, Rey spun herself on her back while she was on the floor to recover her grounding. Pulling in with the force for a second, she gained energy up and let it all out in a 360 degree diameter around her. All of the knights were pushed back as well as the walls of the hut - it was completely flattened. It all happened within a fifteen second period, it was so fast she couldn't gain her composure - her mind couldn't keep up with what was going on, she still needed a lot of training, but her sheer power was getting her by now.

Rey started running toward her staff as soon as she saw it. "Luke!" She screamed as she grabbed her staff defending against the attacks of the Knights. The knights were not trying to kill her, that could have been done already, they were trying to capture her.

She knocked one in the chin, another in the knee knocking him down. For every strike she deflected or dished out, she was hit three times. She was becoming overwhelmed when she heard the sound of Chewie's bowcaster blast.

*Ptchew Ptchew!* One knight laid dead in front of Rey, the others took a staggered step back and took cover as Chewie kept blasting away.

Rey was about to take this opportunity to make an attack when Luke, half flying half jumping down the hill screamed "Rey hold on!" He landed on the ground in time to force push a Knight far off into the distance.

"Rey, we need to get out of here!" but Rey wouldn't listen to Luke. Running toward the closest knight, a man with a very large Axe, she began to engage in battle. Luke was fighting four Knights at a time. Defending with his lightsaber and attacking with the force. Rey was able to out maneuver the Knight relatively easily, until she made a vital mistake. Swinging too far with her staff, in the heat of battle (unable to compose herself and filled with anger) the more experienced knight took his shot - and cut off her hand.

"Aaaaah!" Rey screamed. Luke had enough. Throwing the four knights off the cliff with the force and rushing towards the knight who was about to make the killing blow to Rey, he plunged his saber through the knights body, killing him.

Rey laid there, in pain, her hand laying not too far away from her. "I have medical supplies in my hutt, it'll do the job until you can get actual medical treatment a the Resistance outpost.

After bandaging her up, cauterizing the wound and taking a trip to the Resistance outpost, Rey remain floating in a bacta tank, left hand missing.

"You're lucky you got her here when you did, or we couldn't put a robotic hand on her." Luke said nothing, looking at her, disappointed she went to such extremes to try to kill the Knights, frustrated she was so easily filled with anger so quickly. _"Maybe this was a lesson in patience for her"_ he thought.

**Bleeding**

"You went to Achto, against my orders, got three Knights killed and tried to do what?" Kylo said, holding in his thirst to kill the remaining Knights who just landed on Korriban.

"To bring you a gift Master Ren." one knight said filling the silence. He knew their punishment would be worse if no one said anything.

"A gift? Do you believe a gift is worth giving the girl experience in combat, making it personal for her to kill us and letting them all know that we're aware of their position?!" Luke held out his hands over the Knights, an angry look on his face, the Knights started to scream out in pain.

"You'd better hope they don't use this against our larger plans!"

In the pain, one knight spoke through it. "M-m-master ren! We broug-g-ght this!" He held out the lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker. Ren stopped, looked at it in complete admiration.

"This. Did you take this?"

"Yes Master Ren, I knew you'd want it" panting and trying to recover from the pain.

"Indeed, Knight. Indeed. Stay here, I'll have instructions for you after I come back. Rest, you did well even if it was against my wishes. This...this is priceless."

Kylo took the long walk back to the original cave he was brought into more than two years ago on Korriban. Sitting in the very middle of the cave, he laid the lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker down in front of him. Taking a cross-legged position, taking a very long time just to stare at the weapon. Elegant, robust, so much history behind it. After what seemed like an eternity, kylo straightened up and entered the force. Lifting the saber with the force, he spent hours upon hours getting to know the weapon - specifically the crystal within. He felt the crystal. Lonely and traumatized from the past...hopeful for the future. Kylo slowly took apart the saber with the force, all of the pieces small and large remain floating in front of him.

As the pieces floated, Kylo forced the crystal to speed toward him, stopping just before it hit him. He dropped the rest of the pieces and let the crystal slowly fall into his hand. Still sitting, Kylo began to fume. Hatred and rage building up in him. Feeling the crystal, he closed his eyes. "You will be mine. Mine!" He poured all of his hatred and malice into the crystal, feeling it fight back. "No, no!" Remembering all of the weaknesses he had as a child, as an enforcer of Snoke, even. "Your power will be mine, Vader!" Images of Anakin Skywalker spinning through his mind - Anakin smiling, in battle, Dooku, Padme, Obi wan, Luke, the younglings, the trade federation,... it all spun so fast! Then came a picture of Rey, their fight together on Star Killer base…"Nooo! No!" Kylo exclaimed - rey standing triumphant. "Nooooo!" Kylo held on to the crystal even tighter now - more visions came to him, rey killing him, the crystal being taken back from his lifeless body. "No! That will never happen. I will rule!" Kylo let out a large scream. "Aaahhhh!" and the visions began to slow… Kylo killing rey, luke, snoke...the crystal...crying. He let out a deep breath, opened his hand and looked down at the crystal shining a beautiful crimson color.

Snoke was in his meditation room, becoming increasingly uneasy at Kylo's new found power. "Snoke" he heard a voice in his head. "Snoke. I am no longer your puppet…". Snokes eyes shot open and he ended his meditation.

After giving Kylo the rundown of the resistance base, everything they know about Hux and the spy Jayen, Kylo began to formulate a plan.

"Do you still have contact with General Hux?" Kylo asked

"His title is Lord now, Master Ren, but yes." "Contact him, tell him we plan to attack the Resistance base and they will aid in our attack. An opportunity to Kill Skywalker and Rey while destroying the entire base will be one Snoke will not let up. I'll speak with Snoke myself.

Kylo went back to the cave to meditate on the force to contact Snoke. He reached out with the force, Snoke responded. The conversation didn't have any words, only intentions and emotions. After letting kylo know the price of betrayal, they agreed to attack the Resistance base with full force.

"I suppose you already spoke with Kylo's Knights, then Lord Hux?"

"Yes supreme leader. We are formulating a plan now. It shouldn't be too long until we are prepared to make the assault. Perhaps a couple weeks or so. The Knights will link up with Phasma and her elite unit to attack the base, I'll follow along with multiple units of standard troopers and we will destroy them once and for all."

"Wonderful. Very good, Lord Hux. After I dispatch Luke, I'll take Kylo's head. Then I'll take the girl as my new apprentice. She's so young and naive, she'll make a fine tool to use." Snoke let out a menacing smile.

**Shifting plans**

Jayen spent most of her time with D'oal. When the two weren't together, they were conducting espionage missions to catch the First Order spy. D'oal still had no idea that the first order spy was actually Jayen, and she was using him to further her own agenda. They had gotten rather close with the resistance Leadership as well, making close personal relationships with Leia and Poe especially. Most of the time Finn was training the fighters on tactics and conducting practice drills in case of an emergency. Poe was always very impressed with Jayen's quick-wittedness and natural leadership ability. This granted Jayen a position in the Resistance Leadership eventually. Poe was even considering bringing her in to the spy hunt with him, but he thought different of it when he noticed he already had Leia, Finn and three other people discreetly searching every nook and cranny for spy activity. Luckily, Jayen was good at her job, and didn't leave many traces. D'oal was becoming quite the spy himself, having a natural affinity for the discipline. _"Maybe I'll take him back with me once all this is over" _she thought.

One night Jayen got a radio in from Phasma. "We're planning the final assault on the resistance base in two weeks time. Make sure to make preparations and plans for the execution of Snoke if we need you as well as a hasty getaway."

Jayen's heart skipped a beat. She's finally able to get out of this stink hole the resistance calls a home. She'll be awarded high honors for her bravery and service. She couldn't wait. "Yes, captain. Any other specific orders you command?"

"Not at this time, Jayen. You've done a good job. We need you to get out of there when the attack begins - you're too valuable an asset to lose." With that, they exchanged closing thoughts and radio'd out.

"Do we get vacations here, D'oal?" Jayen asked. "I could really use a relaxing time on Naboo."

"Well, we don't really get too much time, but it seems there's a calm-wind here lately, maybe you could request one."

"Would you like to come? Company is always nice." Jayen glanced D'oal a cute smile.

"Well… maybe you can request the vacation for two."

"It's settled, then. Naboo for a weekend of rest and relaxation." Jayen was stationed on Naboo for her first assignment, spying on politicians and diplomats there.

Lord Hux radioed in to an asset in the resistance, a private asset he told no one about.

"When the Attack starts, you must be certain to Kill commander Poe Dameron first. You can not allow him to pilot the X-wing, he's too dangerous to be kept alive"

A low and grunty voice replied. "Sure thing."

"Proper titles, assassin. It's "Yes, Lord Hux""

"I'm not part of your rag-tag, pressed suit wearing bantha-foots. You asked me to do a job, just let me do it."

This was the calm before the storm, and people knew it, they could feel something coming. Especially Leia who was walking and talking with Luke.

"So, do you think she's _the one_?" Leia asked sarcastically. The chosen one, of course is what she meant, but she wanted to joke with her brother a little bit whom she had not seen in many years.

Luke gave out a slight exhaled laugh said "There's something about her that the force is calling her to do. It's different than my own calling, feels different than my fathers...we'll just have to be patient and see what happens with her life. She was so quick to anger in her first real match. She needed to understand the value of life, so I sent her on a little assignment to Jakku."

"Ah, jedi stuff. Our old pact is still in place, I assume?" Luke looked at Leia as if he saw the question in front of his face. "Yes, and it may come sooner than we think." Luke put his arm around Leia. "Let's go get something to eat."

**Perspective**

As Rey landed on Tatooine, she looked down at her cybernetic new hand and shunned a little. She didn't like that she couldn't feel it, but knew it was her own fault for getting so caught up in the fight that she lost control of herself._ "Why did Luke send me here?" _she wondered. While walking through a small village of what seemed to be only druggies, fighters, outlaws and thieves, she made it known that she was ready and willing to battle anyone who gave her any push. She had been in places like this before, she grew up in a place like this; but had always been on the "hiding" end of it all. Now that she was a Jedi, she didn't need to hide, and was thankful for the power. Now that she was a Jedi, or at least a little trained, she had a whole lot more to lose by being rambunctious. She steadied herself, and kept walking around. Seeing the old types she used to - angry, plotting people. She couldn't help but grin them a mean look back and keep walking. She dreaded coming back here, but didn't think it would strike up this kind of anger in her. She was back in survival mode… she felt as if she never left Jakku.

"You can't help them, you know." said the voice of an older woman. Rey turned around until she caught a look of her. She was pretty, greyish hair you could tell used to be a deep red and wore a smile on her face that told her she was in control. She was running a small fruit stand in the middle of the busy road market.

"You lack subtlety. I doubt that's how Luke is teaching you." said the woman. Rey looked amazed she knew who Luke was. "How do you know who Luke is? How do you know who I am?"

Rey was genuinely curious at the accuracy of the old woman.

"Call it an old woman's intuition, my dear, and don't worry about it. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Luke sent me, he said I needed perspective, but I've already been here, haven't I? I grew up here on Jakku. I don't see what I can learn. Except that fact that I'm not here anymore, that I have the power to control my destiny now."

"Ah, but do you? You're still such a slave to your old life, your old ways. It's all over your face, girl. You are so bent on survival that you see but do not observe. Look at how they are looking at you." Rey looked, some of the people were looking at her with angry faces, probably planning on robbing her. Some were just staring, blankly. "That's envy. They see your power, they see that you're doing well and are fundamentally different than them, that you _**don't belong here**_. Get out of the past, girl. You have no idea how much damage your kind can cause by being stuck in the past. You're still haunted by memories of this place because you think this is still home. You think this place still defines you, that your parents abandoning you makes you less than what you are. I don't think you belong in the category of "worth nothing". Do you?"

No, she didn't think she was worth nothing. She believed she was capable and resolute now, more than ever. She was a part of something, she had a place. Rey looked again, seeing them now seemed different. She _did _have power now, and she _was _still stuck in the past. _"These people are suffering" _she thought as she looked around. They were staring at Rey. Jealous, envious. _"Just like I suffered. These people aren't to be fought, they are to be helped" _she thought. It was her natural inclination to save them - to save everyone but what could she do? This woman said it herself, Rey couldn't help them. So what was she doing there? Seeing them now made her mind shift, it altered from defense to pity, from pity to sadness at the state of the galaxy.

"Why can't we help them?" Rey asked

"You should know the answer to that. Luke himself tried to help _everyone _in the galaxy all at once, and ended up helping _no one. _Help when you can, when the opportunity arises, but not everyone at once. You'll always fail that way. You must understand the _value _of the small acts, they hold the value of life in them, you know."

Rey turned back around to face the old woman, who had her back turned to Rey peeling some kind of fruit. "So, knowing all of this, what are you doing here?" the woman asked Rey. Rey just thought that exact question herself.

"Nothing. Nothing at all, just...looking around. Thank you for your help."

The woman turned around and Rey heard a small *ting* in her mind. The woman bowed ever so slightly, and as she did the hew of a purple kyber crystal slipped from beneath her shirt. *ting*

Rey looked, stunned she knew this was the woman from the picture in Luke's hutt, but what was her name? Rey decided the moment would be better if she didn't ask, bowed back and left back to her ship to return to the outpost.

Having what she has now, Rey was able to see the galaxy differently, and especially herself. If there were roots deeply embedded in Jakku, they were pulled out now. He roots were in herself at this point, and she was able to let the anger of the past go. She thought on it, and decided that's why she was so ready to kill the Knight that took her hand - because she had a natural lean toward anger because of how she grew up. The next week and a half was joyous for Rey. She was happier and more vibrant than ever before, this helped increase her force abilities, too. She was able to see more clearly and everything seemed to work a little smoother.

Finally, 22 years of life, she was happy. Truly happy.

**The Attack**

The plan wa simple: First five units under Lord Hux are to bombard the Resistance fleet with mass numbers of storm troopers on the initial assault, and as they are wearing the resistance down, Phasma with the Knights and her elite are to finish off the job. Toward the end, Snoke and Kylo will pursue Rey and Luke.

"Everyone is in position for the assault, Supreme Leader" radioed in Lord Hux, Snokes right hand man. "Very well - hold off until I give the order." the ships were in a perfect formation. First, five ships in the forefront for the initial assault, then one ship of Phasma, the Knights and her Elite as soon as Hux gave the command, then finally Snokes Flagship at the rear. They were all waiting to jump to hyperspace to begin the assault. Kylo's lone ship outside of the atmosphere of Korriban also sit waiting for the commands. He'd go in with his Knights.

"Are we all ready to go?" asked Jayen, who was looking forward to her vacation on Naboo. She had planted an explosive device that would seek out Snoke. Jayen's plan was simple: Pretend to get on D'oal's ship, finish her mission if needed and prepare a standby ship for extraction. Little did she know, D'oal had the same idea.

"We're ready for the jump to begin the assault, Supreme Leader." Lord Hux stated, very matter-of-factly.

"Hmm...Begin." With that command, all of the ships began to power up their hyperdrives and shot off to the rebel base. In order from front to rear they sped off. Kylo looked at his lightsaber once again, but it wasn't his own. It was the saber of Anakin Skywalker. He looked at it in admiration, and activated it. Instead of a crystal blue, the blade came out a deep crimson, with the hum of a perfectly sophisticated weapon. His eyes, a deep orange, were fixed forward as he put his ship into hyperdrive with the others, ready for his retribution.

Snoke was overseeing the battle through the force. Thinking to himself, _"Ah… a weakness of yours, young Rey. You are afraid of storms, I see. Well..."_ Just then, a massive storm began to brew over the battle field. A familiar feeling arose in Rey - she was reminded of the force storm Luke showed her. The dark feeling she got, the fear. This didn't help her at all.

"General Leia, we have ships coming out of hyperspace - they're from the First Order!"

Leia looked into deep space for a split second as the reality hit her, then she focused in.

"Finn, take the army and prepare for battle. Poe, get rest of the leadership up to the main command post and then the pilots prepared."

"There are only a couple squads, General. The rest aren't ready for -"

"That's an order, Commander! We need every pilot we have, ready or not!"

"Everyone else with me, we need to supervise this battle! This may be out last chance to fight the first order and get out of here before everyone is slaughtered!"

With that, all members rushed to their duties. Poe, looking for all the leadership radioed Finn and asked where Jayen was.

"She and D'oal went on vacation, remember?! As Finn was screaming orders to the fighters and everyone was putting on their armor. "Perfect timing too if you ask me!"

"_Perfect timing…" _The words hit Poe like a force push. He realized there's no WAY Jayen and D'oal planned a trip for the exact day we were attacked. Poe Radioed in to all sectors. "Jayen is the spy! Repeat, Jayen is the spy!" as explosions from the incoming TIE fighters went off around him. He decided he couldn't waste his time looking for her and got all of the pilots up and ready for flight.

Jayen, tucked away in a small nest with a powerful sniper blaster lay waiting for Snoke. She was hooing Phasma wouldn't give the order to shoot and just get out of the chaos, but she was ready. She was right above the hangar that the X-wings were stationed, which gave her almost a birds eye view of the entire base. She set up, peeped through her scope and had a good look at Poe. _I could do it" _she thought to herself, imagining her pulling the trigger on Poe. Playing with the trigger, she just fantasized for a second when she saw Poe be pulled behind a couple of boxes, just out of view. She looked up from her scope to see what just happened, looked back through it because she couldn't see that far and her eyes opened in shock. Commander Poe Dameron was thrown onto the ground, face first with blood running from his side. _Someone stabbed him! But who?" _Her question was answered quickly as none other than D'oal stepped from behind the boxes to get lost in the chaos. How could she not have seen this? She thought. No wonder he was such a natural - he must work for the First Order. D'oal was gone in a flash.

"Poe! Poe!" Finn screamed in terror as he run towards Poe. Still alive, but losing blood and consciousness fast, Finn ordered three fighters to contact General Leia on where the evac ships were so they could get him medical attention quick!

Luke was already on the battle ground. As hoards of storm troopers lay in front of him, he ignited his green lightsaber prepared to do what must be done. He needed to stay away from stronger and more aggressive force abilities, as it may hurt the resistance fighters, so he elected to stick to just his saber - but that was enough, he thought. The battle wasn't as condensed as it was on the first order outpost he attacked before, but he was able to dispatch every trooper he came into contact with with a swift swing of his saber or smaller force abilities like push and pull.

Rey, still without a saber and not quite yet battle tested, elected to grab a sniper blaster and team up with Chewie, who was perched up on a high position with his bowcaster. Rey was doing what she could, and using the force, she was accurate with the blaster - not perfect, but accurate, the storm wasn't helping her aim. Chewie on the other hand, was damn deadly.

"Protect the left flank! You, take D squad and mount an offensive on our rear! R Squad, take the L formation to the southwest corner of the base!" finn yelled, giving commands to the fighters to best defend against them. The fighters were far more effective than Finn thought they would be, but training specifically to fight the First Order is what they did for two years, thanks to Finn.

The X-Wings were scrambled and were in intense dogfights with the TIE fighters, but without Poe's keen battle strategy, it was not going as well as the fighters on the ground.

"We're going to need the elites sooner than we thought" Hux radioed to Phasma. "Their fighters are more well prepared than we thought"

Without a word, Phasma make the order to assault the , hearing this, decided to take a different angle to the base. The Elites would land in the heat of the battle, but Kylo would land slightly in the outskirts - looking for revenge.

Luke force jumped to Rey's position, taking cover as Rey fired. "How ya holding up?" Luke asked. "This isn't the time for small talk, Master!" as Rey fired another shot. Luke put his hand on her, sending waves of relaxing energies through her. "This is your life from now on, Rey. You know that right?" Rey looked at him with a serious look. She knew, and it was what she chose, but it didn't make her feel any better. "Remember, Rey, these are the sacrifices we make. Take this" Luke gave Rey his lightsaber.

"I can't take this Master! You need a weapon." Luke chuckled at this. He knew Snoke didn't use weapons, and that's exactly where he was going. "I am the weapon, Rey." and Luke left.

As captain Phasma's ship landed, the doors opened and out poured one squad of Elite soldiers and four Knights of Ren. All with their original weapons except one. One Knight (the one who gifted Kylo the infamous lightsaber) had a special, glowing sword. A force imbued sword. This was an impressive weapon. As Phasma stepped down the ramp swiftly but not in a hurry, she was met by Luke who had just jumped in front of her. She stopped in surprise, eyes widening and breath slightly gasped. She picked up her chrome staff prepared to fight Luke. Luke started walking toward the ramp. Phasma lifted her staff to make the first strike when she was suddenly thrown fifty yards to the left. Luke, without missing a beat took the ship and headed straight toward Snoke's ship.

When Phasma regained her composure, she entered the battle. She was swift and deadly. Using her staff and blaster to wreak havoc on any resistance fighter that came near her. Tumbling left and right, making killing blows with her staff while she did, pulling out her blaster in the blink of an eye for any fighter that was more than three feet away, she had an astounding 12 kills already. She pushed the elites and the first squads farther and farther toward the resistance base, she changed the scale of the battle by herself. Finn took note of this as he saw her on the battlefield.

Snoke was in the throne room of his ship, levitating and conducting an ancient force ability called battle meditation overlooking the planet. This may have attributed to Phasma's assault being to successful. Sirens began to go off in the ship. A First Order Officer ran in screaming "Supreme Leader, there's an attacker on the main floor! It's Luke Skywalker!"

"How did he get in here?!" It is, Luke Skywalker as a matter of fact, but even Luke wouldn't have been able to get past the security system without help. He could crush the ship, but the system was too sophisticated to get around alone, Snoke made sure of this. He felt fear around him through the force, and immediately looked to his Navigator and Advisor, Ko Tor.

"You." The advisor began to back up, he knew he was caught. As Snoke walked toward him to end him, there was the shriek of a First Order Officer being thrown across the room.

Luke stood at the entrance of the room. He motioned to the Advisors that they could leave, and so they did. Getting into an escape pod and making way for their home planet.

"This is where it ends, Snoke. You've reigned for far too long."

Snoke putting on a smile. "Skywalker… I'm so happy you're here. The final piece of my puzzle. I feared you'd never come to meet your destiny…"

"I've heard that before… I don't believe in destiny."

The two both let out a blast of force powers that, one they met, backfired and shattered nearly everything in Snokes Throne room.

Rey, taking Luke's saber now began to engage in direct combat. Deflecting blaster fire, powerful force pushes and saber strikes when she heard screams of a dozen fighters erupt. She looked left, and just beyond a hill she could see a black hooded figure lighting the soldiers on fire...fire from his hands.

"Oh, no." She knew it was Kylo, and she knew he finished his training.

Wasting no time, Rey force jumped to Kylo's position and immediately engaged in lightsaber combat. Rey, thinking an offensive strategy was best, used her form 4 right away to test him, remembering not to lose her composure this time, she wanted to play it smart. She was very fast, tumbling and twisting while striking, it seemed her strikes were too fast to keep up with, but Kylo met every strike with his own defense. Kylo was slower, more simplistic but effective. After a few strikes, perries and counters, the two separated. Rey took a look at Kylo's glowing orange eyes. This didn't scare her, but it gave her perspective on who he was now - beyond redemption.

"Look at you. Weak. Nothing, thinking you can test me - I'm beyond your reach, Rey."

Noticing Anakin's lightsaber, now bleeding red. She wanted it. It wasn't his to abuse.

"Let's see." she replied

Rey replied as Kylo jumped and began his offensive attack on his own. He was more powerful than she, was far more. He was striking with brute force, but with precision. She noticed his technique had no flaws in it whatsoever. Everytime he would strike and she would defend, she felt like she'd get thrown around. His strikes were too powerful for her to keep this up, she was trying to out power him - to out fight him, but she couldn't. Then she realized what the mysterious old woman said _"You'll always fail that way. You must understand the value of the small acts, they hold the value of life in them, you know." _ Small acts, she thought to herself - it's time to change tactics. As Kylo went for another huge swing right at her head, she ducked and slid under his legs, clipping a bit of his calf with her lightsaber. He swung again and she put her entire body into the defense and hit him with the butt end of Luke's Saber. Kylo, now bleeding from his mouth let out a battle cry and sped toward her.

Back on Snokes ship, Luke and snoke were in an intense battle of force abilities. Snoke pulling parts from the ship to throw at Luke, and luke surrounding himself with a bubble to protect himself now countering with the same objects, causing Snoke to jump out of the way. Snoke was a lot faster than Luke remembered - even after his injuries he's still in his prime. Luke created a ball of force energy and threw it in Snokes direction, Snoke countered with a giant blast of force lightning, Luke deflected it and it crashed in the window, causing a leak.

"You can't do this forever Snoke!" As the force from the hole made it seem like there was a windstorm in the room.

Snoke said nothing to this, and started to spin on the ground like he was dancing, and out came a barrage of force fire from all directions, catching Luke off guard. The fire hit luke with such force on his left side he was shot against the wall, burns on his arm and ribs. Looking at the burns, he saw Snoke jumping in for the kill. Rolling out of the way, Luke force pushed Snoke backward and Snoke shot back, letting out a resounding "Uumph" and hitting the floor.

Snoke, taking advantage of this moment, slammed his hands on the floor and it began to shake. More and more it shook until it started cracking - Luke's eyes went wide. _"He's going to kill both of us…"_

Not noticing Snoke anywhere, and the first Order about to run over the base, Jayen threw the sniper pistol away, went to the nearest ship and sped off. Her mission was over. She couldn't help but wonder if D'oal was playing _her _the entire time.

Rey perried, countered and struck Kylo in the arm with the lightsaber. Kylo let out a low yell and force pushed Rey away. Just like Snoke, Kylo jumped in for the kill, but Rey rolled out of the way. Kylo was ready for this as he swung his lightsaber sideways hitting Rey in the back as she rolled. She screamed. Rolling in agonizing pain, Kylo took the opportunity to gloat.

"You see, you always think small - that is why you're small. Your compassion is your weakness, and you make yourself a slave to it."

The floor on Snoke's ship began to crush, and Luke looked around for something to hold onto. Just then, it seemed like the entire throne room erupted as all the walls and windows shot outward. The floor was now gone as well, showing the lower levels as First Order officers were crushed by the debris as others tried to run to safety.

Luke thought it might be a good idea to let himself fall toward the lower level, as it gave the only ground around. He let go of his brace and landed very hard on the ground of the lower level. Looking up to Snoke, he was levitating again. Looking down on Skywalker he said

"This is the rightful place of all things. Me above you. That's how it has always been, that is how it always will be." Snoke knew this was a stalemate - he knew he couldn't defeat Skywalker And Luke, being as tired of battle and war as he was, wasn't as sharp as he used to be. There was only one way - to kill them all.

Lord HUx's radio sounded off. It's now or never, Hux! Do it!"

As a contingency plan, Hux placed multiple bombs around the ship to destroy it in the case they didn't get to Snoke. Hux hurried to his quarters on his ship, unlocked a safe and took out a small device with one red button on it. He hesitated for a moment, and then pushed it.

*KABOOOOOM* *KABOOOM* Snokes ship began to explode in various places. One bomb happened to be right next to him, and it exploded not two feet away from him. He was engulfed by the flames and thrown across the ship. Skywalker, thinking fast looked for the nearest escape pod. The explosions were so intense and unpredictable, he didn't think he'd make it out. He rushed to look, and saw escape pods being taken by many officers. One officer was entering an escape pod, but hadn't closed the door yet. Feeling a strange pull from the force, Luke looked back at Snoke, who was lying flat on the ground looking at Skywalker. With a small smirk and a devious look, Snoke was presumably swallowed by more flames as they reached over him like a blanket. Luke didn't have time to ponder, he ran toward her and force pushed her into the pod just as the flames of another explosion was screaming toward him. The ship began to explode in a fiery wind. The entire battlefield saw the explosion and some even stopping to witness it. The resistance used this as a time to escape, the debris of the ship were crashing down on the battlefield (the ship was on low orbit inside of the atmosphere)

"That's it, Rey. Your precious Master is dead." using the situation to mock Rey and weaken her, but still furious he didn't get to kill Luke himself. Kylo had four slashed on him now, and rey had one giant one on her back. Still laying down, Kylo walked over to her. "This is the end for you as well". Rey, in pure instinct and desire to remain alive used all of her might to send out a giant wave of force energy, catching Kylo completely by surprise and sending him flying over the side of a cliff.

Rey took a deep breath, taking in her injury and laying on her side, she looked into the distance - it was anakin's lightsaber. She sighed in relief, knowing Kylo wouldn't come back anytime soon. She got up, slowly. Looking toward the resistance fighters who were now cramming themselves in evac ships. She didn't think she'd make it. She was standing, but not upright. She was staggering, not being able to move too much.

At that moment, Luke came to her, letting her put her arm over his shoulders, they made it to a cargo ship and retreated with the rest of the Resistance.

As soon as they made it on the ship and were at a safe distance away with the rest of the fighters, Rey said "I didn't think I was going to make it out, Master. Thank you" Rey said, panting from the injury and fight with Kylo.

"Don't think anything of it, Rey." Luke, taking a minute to relax himself. "Take some rest, get yourself into a bacta tank, we have a few hours until we get to safety. As Rey recovered in the tank, Luke pondered on his next move. If it was okay to do, and of he actually _could _do it...

Two angry hands caught themselves on the side of the cliff. Grunting and breathing heavily, Kylo pulled himself up to the level ground. Two Stormtroopers ran toward him, giving him the news immediately. "Snoke is dead, Master Ren, and the resistance is nearly all killed, they are on the run." Kylo looked around, but did not see the saber he so desired. _"The girl must have taken it" _he thought to himself. He then closed his eyes… feeling through the force for snoke. He felt nothing… then a small ping came into his mind like a small drop of water in the ocean, was it him?. His eyes opened, and narrowed. Motioning the troopers to be on their way, he looked among the battlefield. Phasma, Hux and all the remaining troopers were conducting some kind of debriefing. He looked upon them and felt an incalculable sense of pride rise in him. He may have lost the fight, but there he stood, amongst millions of weaker beings, victorious. It was his to take, his to command, his to use. He was now in charge of the entire First Order. He smiled. Hux looked up at him from the distance knowing full well his work wasn't done with Snoke.

Upon landing on an unknown planet at an unknown base. Luke began to fire up the engines of an X-Wing. The resistance was scattered among the stars, who knew if they'd be able to pull together from this point.

"What are you doing, Luke? Asked Rey. "Are we going somewhere?"

"No, Rey. We aren't. I am." Rey looking confused didn't know what to say. She stuttered a few letters out but no words came. "You know a lot more about this stuff than I did when I was in your position."

"What do you mean, Luke? Are you abandoning us?"

Leia walked up to Luke with two bags clutched, she then looked at Rey.

"No, Rey, no. I'm retiring." with a small smirk, Luke looked at Rey.

"I have done my duty, Rey. Over and Over again. This is in your hands now."

Rey looked at both of them "How could you do this? How could this be?"

"We'll always be here for guidance, Rey. Use the force to contact me if ever need be, but we have a pact to fulfill, and I have a wife to see." Luke handed Rey his lightsaber.

"May the force be with you, Rey. Always."

Luke and Leia hopped into the X-Wing, presumably never to be seen again.

There Rey stood, in a crowd of people hustling this way and that way. She never took her eyes off the spot she saw Luke and Leia disappear from. Feeling more lost than ever, she had no idea what to do. Dread rose up in her. Even on Jakku, she never felt this unsure.

After a few days, Poe and Finn decided on who would lead the resistance from that point on. They decided on a two party system - Finn, being the head of training and operations, Poe in charge of diplomacy and growing the resistance, but with the choice to fly the X-wings if he wanted to.

"It just seemed right" Poe said. Rey agreed.

She spent the next few days helping out around the base, getting everything ready for everyone to go their separate ways for a while. There was the plan to meet back up in a year once Poe could get more numbers to the fighters and connections around the galaxy - he and Finn were to travel recruiting. Rey was pleased with this idea.

"What are you going to do, Rey?" Rey had thought of it.

"I'll need an X-wing. Is that okay, Poe?" Poe agreed to this.

Rey said her goodbyes for now and elected to meet up with Finn and Poe whenever she felt ready. "Doesn't matter. Tomorrow or next year and anytime in between."

The three gave each other very big, very meaningful hugs. Rey closed the cockpit to her X-Wing and took off to Achtoo.

There she sat in Luke's hut, the two lightsabers in front of her. The care-takers yapping that another "dangerous one" was back on the island. Chewie groaning off in the distance. Rey closed her eyes and began meditating on the force. A few hours passed and she had the blood red crystal in her hands. A few more hours passed as she empathized with the crystals pain, creating a strong bond with it. The crystal wanted to be freed, and Rey was just the one to do it. A few more hours passing… visions began to come to her….obi wan… Anakin smiling...Padme pregnant with twins...the color white… In Rey's mind's eye, everything went white, like it did the first time she connected with the force. She felt a sudden and powerful surge throughout her body, a peaceful surge as if a great pain was lifted from her shoulders. Looking down, she saw the crystal again. It was completely clear. She laughed, then smiled. Grabbing her staff that she had from Jakku, she began construction of her personal lightsaber. After what seemed like days to chewie, she walked out of Luke's hut. Looked down at Chewie and ignited a double bladed lightsaber with two beautifully glistening white colored blades. Chewie let out a loud roar and Rey began to cry tears of happiness, regret and hope...all mixed into one.

The End


End file.
